HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 


UNTV.  OP  CAUT.  TJWRAWY.  I. OS 


HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

BY 

LOUIS  TRACY 


AUTHORIOF 

THE  WINGS  OF  THE  MORNING, 
FLOWER  OF  THE  GORSE,  ETC. 


NEW    YORK 

GROSSET  &   DUNLAP 

PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT,  IBIS,  BT 
EDWARD   J.    CLODB 


CHAPTER  I 

SHAJXP    WOBK 

"  TTJRISONES,  attention!  His  excellency  the 
President  has  permitted  Senor  Stein- 
baum  to  visit  you." 

The  "prisoner"  was  lying  on  his  back  on  a 
plank  bed,  with  his  hands  tucked  beneath  his 
head  to  obtain  some  measure  of  protection  from 
the  roll  of  rough  fiber  matting  which  formed  a 
pillow.  He  did  not  pay  the  slightest  heed  to  the 
half-caste  Spanish  jailer's  gruff  command. 
But  the  visitor's  name  stirred  him.  He  turned 
his  head,  apparently  to  make  sure  that  he  was 
not  being  deceived,  and  rose  on  an  elbow. 

"Hello,  Steinbaum!"  he  said  in  English. 
"What's  the  swindle?  Excuse  this  terseness, 
but  I  have  to  die  in  an  hour,  or  even  less,  if  a 
sunbeam  hasn  't  misled  me. ' ' 

*  *  There 's  no  swindle  this  time,  Mr.  Maseden, ' ' 
came  the  guttural  answer.  "I'm  sorry  I  cannot 
help  you,  but  I  want  you  to  do  a  good  turn  for 
a  lady." 

"A  lady!    What  lady?" 

"I  don't  know." 

"If  you  don't  know  the  lady  that  is  a  recom- 
mendation in  itself.  At  any  rate,  what  sort  of 

2133305 


2  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

good  turn  can  a  man  condemned  to  death  do 
for  any  lady?" 

'  *  She  wants  to  marry  yon. '  ' 

Then  the  man  who,  by  his  own  showing,  was 
rapidly  nearing  the  close  of  his  earthly  career, 
sprang  erect  and  looked  so  threatening  that  his 
visitor  shrank  back  a  pace,  while  the  half-caste 
jailer's  right  hand  clntched  the  butt  of  a  re- 
volver. 

"Whatever  else  I  may  have  thought  you,  I 
never  regarded  you  as  a  fool,  Steinbaum,"  he 
said  sternly.  "Go  away,  man!  Have  you  no 
sense  of  decency?  You  and  that  skunk  Enrico 
Suarez,  have  done  your  worst  against  me  and 
succeeded.  When  I  am  dead  the  'state'  will 
collar  my  property — and  I  am  well  aware  that 
in  this  instance  the  'state'  will  be  represented 
by  Senor  Enrico  Suarez  and  Mr.  Fritz  Stein- 
baum.  You  are  about  to  murder  and  rob  me. 
Can't  you  leave  me  in  peace  during  the  last  few 
minutes  of  my  life?  Be  off,  or  you  may  find 
that  in  coming  here  you  have  acted  foolishly  for 
once." 

"Ach,  was!"  sighed  Steinbaum,  nevertheless 
retreating  another  step  towards  the  door  and 
the  watchful  half-caste,  who  had  been  warned 
to  shoot  straight  and  quickly  if  the  prisoner  at- 
tacked the  august  person  of  the  portly  financier. 
"I  tell  you  the  truth,  and  you  will  not  listen. 
It  is  as  I  say.  A  lady,  a  stranger,  arrived  in 


SHARP  WORK  3 

Cartagena  last  night.  She  heard  of  you  this 
morning.  She  asked:  'Is  he  married,  this 
American f '  They  said,  'No.'  Then  she  came 
to  me  and  begged  me  to  use  my  influence  with 
the  President.  She  said :  'If  this  American  gen- 
tleman is  to  be  shot,  I  am  sorry;  but  it  cannot 
matter  to  him  if  he  is  married,  and  it  will  oblige 
me  very  much. '  I  told  her — ' ' 

The  speaker's  voice  grew  husky  and  he 
paused  to  clear  his  throat.  Maseden  smiled 
wanly  at  the  mad  absurdity  of  it,  but  he  was  be- 
ginning to  believe  some  part  of  Steinbaum's 
story. 

"And  what  did  you  tell  her?"  he  broke  in. 

"I  told  her  that  you  were  Quixotic  in  some 
things,  and  you  might  agree." 

"But  what  on  earth  does  the  lady  gain  by  it? 
Suarez  and  you  will  take  mighty  good  care  she 
doesn't  get  away  with  my  ranch  and  money. 
Does  she  want  my  name?" 

"Perhaps." 

Maseden  took  thought  a  moment. 

"It  has  never  been  dishonored  during  my 
life,"  he  said  quietly.  "I  would  need  to  be  as- 
sured that  it  will  not  be  smirched  after  my 
death." 

Steinbaum  was  stout.  A  certain  anxiety  to 
succeed  in  an  extraordinary  mission,  joined  to 
the  warm,  moist  atmosphere  of  the  cell,  had  in- 
duced a  copious  perspiration. 


4  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"Ach,  Gott!"  he  purred  despairingly.  "I 
know  nothing.  She  told  me  nothing.  She  of- 
fered to  pay  me  for  the  trouble — " 

"Ah!" 

' '  Why  not  ?  I  run  some  risk  in  acting  so.  She 
is  American,  like  yourself.  She  came  to  me — " 

"American,  you  say!    Is  she  young?" 

"I  think  so.  I  have  not  seen  her  face.  She 
wears  a  thick  veil. ' ' 

Romance  suddenly  spread  its  fairy  wings  in 
that  squalid  South  American  prison-house. 
Maseden's  spirit  was  fired  to  perform  a  last  act 
of  chivalry,  of  mercy,  it  might  be,  in  behalf  of 
some  unhappy  girl  of  his  own  race.  The  sheer 
folly  of  this  amazing  marriage  moved  him  to 
grim  mirth. 

"Very  well,"  he  said  with  a  half-hearted 
laugh.  "I'll  do  it!  But,  as  you  are  mixing  the 
cards,  Steinbaum,  there  must  be  a  joker  in  the 
pack  somewhere.  I'm  a  pretty  quick  thinker, 
you  know,  and  I  shall  probably  see  through  your 
proposition  before  I  die,  though  I  am  damned 
if  I  can  size  it  up  right  off . ' ' 

"Mr.  Maseden,  I  assure  you,  on  my— 
well,  you  and  I  never  were  friends  and  never 
will  be,  but  I  have  told  you  the  real  facts  this 
time." 

"When  is  the  wedding  to  take  place?" 

"Now." 

*  *  Great  Scott !   Did  the  lady  come  with  you  ? ' ' 


SHARP  WORK  5 

"Yes.  She  is  here  with  a  priest  and  a  no- 
tary. ' ' 

Maseden  peered  over  the  jailer's  shoulder 
into  the  whitewashed  passage  beyond  the  half- 
open  door,  as  though  he  expected  to  find  a 
shrouded  figure  standing  there.  Steinbaum  in- 
terpreted his  glance. 

"She  is  in  the  great  hall,"  he  said.  "The 
guard  is  waiting  at  the  end  of  the  corridor. ' ' 

"Oh,  it's  to  be  a  military  wedding,  then?" 

"Yes,  in  a  sense." 

The  younger  man  appreciated  the  nice  dis- 
tinction Steinbaum  was  drawing.  The  waiting 
"guard"  was  the  firing-party. 

"What  time  is  it?"  he  demanded,  so  sharply 
that  the  fat  man  started.  For  a  skilled  intriguer 
Steinbaum  was  ridiculously  nervous. 

"A  quarter  past  seven." 

"Allow  me  to  put  the  question  as  delicately 
as  possible,  but — er — is  there  any  extension  of 
time  beyond  eight  o'clock?" 

"  Seiior  Suarez  would  not  give  one  minute." 

"He  knows  about  the  ceremony,  of  course?" 

"Yes." 

"What  a  skunk  the  man  is!  How  he  must 
fear  me !  Such  Spartan  inflexibility  is  foreign 
to  the  Spanish  nature.  .  .  .  By  the  way,  Stein- 
baum, did  you  ever,  in  your  innocent  youth, 
hear  the  opera  'Maritana,'  or  see  a  play  called 
'Don  Cesar  de  Bazan'?" 


6  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"Why  waste  time,  Mr.  Maseden?"  cried  the 
other  impatiently.  He  loathed  the  environment 
of  that  dim  cell,  with  its  slightly  fetid  air,  sug- 
gestive of  yellow  jack  and  dysentery.  He  was 
so  obviously  ill  at  ease,  so  fearful  lest  he  should 
fail  in  an  extraordinary  negotiation,  that,  given 
less  strenuous  conditions,  the  younger  man 
must  have  read  more  into  the  proposal  than  ap- 
peared on  the  face  of  it. 

But  the  sands  of  life  were  running  short  for 
Maseden.  Outwardly  cool  and  imperturbably 
American,  his  soul  was  in  revolt.  For  all  that 
he  laughed  cheerfully. 

"Waste  time,  indeed!"  he  cried.  "I,  who 
have  less  than  forty-five  minutes  to  live!  .  .  . 
Now,  these  are  my  terms." 

"There  are  no  terms,"  broke  in  Steinbaum 
harshly.  "You  oblige  the  lady,  or  you  don't. 
Please  yourself." 

"Ah,  that's  better.  That  sounds  more  like  the 
hound  that  I  know  you  are.  Yet,  I  insist  on  my 
terms. 

"I  was  dragged  out  of  bed  in  my  pajamas  at 
four  o'clock  this  morning,  and  not  even  per- 
mitted to  dress.  They  hardly  waited  to  get  me 
a  pair  of  boots.  I  haven't  a  red  cent  in  my 
pocket,  which  is  a  figure  of  speech,  because  I 
haven't  a  pocket.  If  you  think  you  can  borrow 
from  an  old  comedy  just  so  much  of  the  situa- 
tion as  suits  your  purpose  and  disregard  the 


SHARP  WORK  1 

costume  and  appearance  of  the  star  actor, 
you're  mistaken. 

'  *  I  gather  from  your  furious  grunts  that  you 
don't  understand  me.  Very  well.  I'll  come 
straight  to  the  point.  If  I  am  to  marry  the  lady 
of  your  choice,  I  demand  the  right  to  appear  at 
the  altar  decently  clad  and  with  enough  good 
money  in  my  pocket  to  stand  a  few  bottles  of 
wine  to  the  gallant  blackguards  who  are  about 
to  shoot  me. 

' '  Those  are  my  terms,  Steinbaum.  Take  them 
or  leave  them !  But  don't  accuse  me  of  wasting 
time.  It's  up  to  you  to  arrange  the  stage  set- 
ting. I  might  have  insisted  on  a  shave,  but  I 
won't. 

"The  lady  will  not  expect  me  to  kiss  her, 
I  suppose?  .  .  .  By  gad,  she  must  be  a  person 
of  strange  tastes.  Why  any  young  woman 
should  want  to  marry  a  man  because  he's  going 
to  be  shot  half  an  hour  later  is  one  of  those 
mysteries  which  the  feminine  mind  may  compre- 
hend, but  it's  beyond  me.  However,  that's  her 
affair,  not  mine. 

"Now,  Steinbaum,  hurry  up!  I'm  talking 
for  the  mere  sake  of  hearing  my  own  voice,  but 
you're  keeping  the  lady  in  suspense." 

Maseden  had  indeed  correctly  described 
his  own  attitude.  He  was  wholly  indifferent 
to  the  personal  element .  in  the  bizarre  com- 
pact proposed  by  his  arch-enemy,  on  whom 


8  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

he    had    turned    his    back    while     speaking. 

The  sight  of  a  bloated,  angry,  perplexed  face 
of  the  coarsest  type  was  mentally  disturbing. 
He  elected  rather  to  watch  the  shaft  of  sunlight 
coming  through  the  long,  narrow  slit  in  a  four- 
foot  wall  which  served  as  a  window.  He  knew 
that  his  cell  was  on  the  northeast  side  of  the 
prison,  and  the  traveling  sunbeam  had  already 
marked  the  flight  of  time  with  sufficient  accu- 
racy since  he  was  thrust  into  that  dismal 
place. 

He  had  been  sentenced  to  death  just  one  hour 
and  a  half  after  being  arrested.  The  evidence, 
like  the  trial,  was  a  travesty  of  justice.  His 
excellency  Don  Enrico  Suarez,  elected  president 
of  the  Republic  of  San  Juan  at  midnight,  and 
confirmed  in  power  by  the  bullet  which  removed 
his  predecessor,  wreaked  vengeance  speedily  on 
the  American  intruder  who  had  helped  to  mar 
his  schemes  twice  in  two  years. 

There  would  be  a  diplomatic  squabble  about 
the  judicial  murder  of  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  of  course.  The  American  and  British 
consuls  would  protest,  and  both  countries  would 
dispatch  warships  to  Cartagena,  which  was  at 
once  the  capital  of  the  republic  and  its  chief 
port.  But  of  what  avail  such  wrangling  after 
one  was  dead? 

Dead,  at  twenty-eight,  when  the  world  was 
bright  and  fortune  was  apparently  smiling! 


SHARP  WORK  9 

Dead,  because  he  supported  dear  old  Domenico 
Valdes,  the  murdered  president,  and  one  ot  the 
few  honest,  God-fearing  men  in  a  rotten  little 
South  American  state  which  would  have  been 
swept  out  of  putrid  existence  long  ago  were 
it  not  for  the  policy  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
Maseden  knew  that  no  power  on  earth  would 
save  him  now,  because  Suarez  and  he  could  not 
exist  in  the  same  community,  and  Suarez  was 
supreme  in  the  Republic  of  San  Juan — supreme, 
that  is,  until  some  other  cut-throat  climbed  to 
the  presidency  over  a  rival's  corpse.  Stein- 
baum,  a  crafty  person  who  played  the  game  of 
high  politics  with  some  ability  and  seldom  failed 
to  advance  his  own  and  his  allies '  interests,  had 
backed  Suarez  financially  and  would  become  his 
jackal  for  the  time. 

It  was  rather  surprising  that  such  a  master- 
plotter  should  have  admitted  a  fore-knowledge 
of  Maseden 's  fate,  and  this  element  in  the  situa- 
tion suddenly  dawned  on  Maseden  himself.  The 
arrest,  the  trial,  and  the  condemnation  were 
alike  kept  secret. 

The  American  consul,  a  Portuguese  merchant, 
possessed  enough  backbone  to  demand  the  post- 
ponement of  the  execution  until  he  had  commu- 
nicated with  Washington,  and  in  this  action  he 
would  have  been  supported  by  the  representa- 
tive of  Great  Britain.  But  he  would  know  noth- 


10  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

ing  about  the  judicial  crime  until  it  was  an  ac- 
complished fact. 

How,  then,  had  some  enterprising  young 
lady — 

1  'By  the  way,  Steinbaum,  you  might  ex- 
plain— " 

Maseden  swung  on  his  heel ;  the  matrimonial 
agent  had  vanished. 

1  'The  senor  signified  that  he  would  return 
soon,"  said  the  jailer. 

* '  He 's  gone  for  the  clothes ! ' '  mused  Maseden, 
his  thoughts  promptly  reverting  to  the  fantastic 
marriage  project.  "The  sly  old  fox  is  devilish 
anxious  to  get  me  spliced  before  my  number 
goes  up.  I  wonder  why?  And  where  in  the 
world  will  he  raise  a  suitable  rig?  Hang  it  all, 
I  wish  I  had  a  little  longer  to  live.  This  busi- 
ness becomes  more  interesting  every  minute!" 

Though  he  was  sure  the  attempt  would  be 
hopeless,  Maseden  resolved  to  make  one  last 
effort.  He  looked  the  half-caste  squarely  in  the 
face. 

1 '  Get  me  out  of  this  before  Seiior  Steinbaum 
comes  back  and  I'll  give  you  twenty  thousand 
dollars  gold,"  he  said  quietly. 

The  man  met  his  glance  without  flinching. 

"I  could  not  help  you,  senor,  if  you  paid  me  a 
million  dollars,"  he  answered.  "It  is  your  life 
or  mine — those  are  my  orders.  And  it  is  use- 
less to  think  of  attacking  me,"  he  added,  be- 


SHARP  WORK  11 

cause  for  one  moment  black  despair  scowled 
menacingly  from  Maseden's  strong  features. 
"There  are  ten  men  at  each  door  of  the  corri- 
dor ready  to  shoot  you  at  the  least  sign  of  any 
attempt  to  escape." 

*  *  The  preparations  for  the  wedding  are  fairly 
complete,  then?" 

Maseden  spoke  Spanish  fluently,  and  the  half- 
caste  grinned  at  the  joke. 

"It  will  soon  be  over,  senor,"  was  all  he  could 
find  to  say. 

The  condemned  man  knew  that  the  fellow  was 
not  to  be  bribed  at  the  cost  of  his  own  life.  He 
turned  again  and  grew  interested  once  more  in 
the  shaft  of  sunlight.  How  quickly  it  moved! 
He  calculated  that  before  it  reached  a  certain 
crack  in  the  masonry  he  would  have  passed  into 
"yesterday's  seven  thousand  years." 

It  was  not  a  pleasing  conceit.  In  self-defense, 
as  it  were,  he  bent  his  wits  on  to  the  proposed 
marriage.  He  was  half  inclined  to  regret  the 
chivalrous  impulse  which  spurred  him  to  agree 
to  it.  Yet  there  was  a  spice  of  humor  in  the  fact 
that  a  man  who  was  regarded  as  an  inveterate 
woman-hater  by  the  dusky  young  ladies  of  San 
Juan  should  be  led  to  the  altar  literally  at  the 
eleventh  hour. 

What  manner  of  woman  could  this  unknown 
bride  be?  What  motive  swayed  her?  Perhaps 
it  was  better  not  to  ask.  But  if  the  knot  were 


12  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

tied  by  a  priest,  a  notary  and  a  European  finan- 
cier, it  was  evidently  intended  to  be  a  valid 
undertaking. 

And  why  was  Steinbaum  so  interested  T  Was 
the  would-be  Mrs.  Maseden  so  well  endowed 
with  this  world's  goods  that  she  spared  no  ex- 
pense in  attaining  her  object? 

The  most  contrary  emotions  surged  through 
Maseden 's  conscience.  He  was  by  turns  curious, 
sympathetic,  suspicious,  absurdly  eager  to  learn 
more. 

In  this  last  mood  he  resolved  to  have  one 
straight  look  at  the  lady.  Surely  a  man  was 
entitled  to  see  his  bride's  face !  Yes,  come  what 
might,  he  would  insist  that  she  must  raise  the 
"thick,  white  veil"  which  had  hitherto  screened 
her  features  from  Steinbaum 's  goggle  eyes — 
supposing,  that  is,  the  rascal  had  told  the  truth. 

A  hinge  creaked,  and  the  half-caste  announced 
that  the  senor  was  returning.  In  a  few  seconds 
Steinbaum  panted  in.  He  was  carrying  a  gor- 
geous uniform  of  sky-blue  cloth  with  facings  of 
silver  braid.  As  he  dumped  a  pair  of  brilliant 
patent-leather  top-boots  on  the  stone  floor  a  glit- 
tering helmet  fell  from  among  the  clothes  and 
rolled  to  Maseden 's  feet. 

"See  here,  Steinbaum,  what  tomfoolery  is 
this  f ' '  cried  the  American  wrathfully. 

"It  is  your  tomfoolery,  not  mine,"  came  the 
heated  retort.  "Where  am  I  to  get  a  suit  of 


SHARP  WORK  13 

clothes  for  you?  These  will  fit,  I  think.  I  bor- 
rowed them  from  the  President's  aide-de-camp, 
Captain  Ferdinando  Gomez." 

Maseden  knew  Captain  Gomez — a  South 
American  dandy  of  the  first  water.  For  the 
moment  the  ludicrous  side  of  the  business  ban- 
ished all  other  considerations. 

"What!"  he  laughed,  " am  I  to  be  married  in 
the  giddy  rig  of  the  biggest  ass  in  Cartagena? 
Well,  I  give  in.  As  I'm  to  be  shot  at  eight, 
Ferdinando 's  fine  feathers  will  be  in  a  sad  mess, 
because  I'll  not  take  'em  off  again  unless  I'm 
undressed  forcibly.  Good  Lord !  Does  my  un- 
known bride  realize  what  sort  of  rare  bird  she 's 
going  to  espouse?  .  .  . 

"Yes,  yes,  we're  losing  time.  Chuck  over 
those  pants.  Gomez  is  not  quite  my  height,  but 
his  togs  may  be  0.  K." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Philip  Alexander  Mase- 
den looked  a  very  fine  figure  of  a  man  when  ar- 
rayed in  all  the  glory  of  the  presidential  aide-de- 
camp. The  only  trouble  was  that  the  elegant 
top-boots  were  confoundedly  tight,  being,  in 
truth,  a  size  too  small  for  their  vain  owner ;  but 
the  bridegroom-elect  put  up  with  this  incon- 
venience. 

He  had  not  far  to  walk.  A  few  steps  to  the 
right  lay  the  "great  hall"  in  which,  according 
to  Steinbaum,  the  ceremony  would  take  place. 
Very  little  farther  to  the  left  was  the  enclosed 


14  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

patio,  or  courtyard,  in  which  he  would  be  shot 
within  thirty  minutes ! 

"I'm  dashed  if  I  feel  a  bit  like  dying,"  he 
said,  as  he  strode  by  Steinbaum's  side  along  the 
outer  corridor.  '  *  If  the  time  was  about  fourteen 
hours  later  I  might  imagine  I  was  going  to  a 
fancy  dress  ball,  though  I  wouldn't  be  able  to 
dance  much  in  these  confounded  boots." 

The  stout  financier  made  no  reply.  He  was 
singularly  ill  at  ease.  Any  critical  onlooker, 
not  cognizant  of  the  facts,  would  take  him  and 
not  Maseden  to  be  the  man  condemned  to 
death. 

A  heavy,  iron-clamped  door  leading  to  the 
row  of  cells  was  wide  open.  Some  soldiers,  lined 
up  close  to  it  in  the  hall,  were  craning  their 
necks  to  catch  a  first  glimpse  of  the  Americano 
who  was  about  to  marry  and  die  in  the  same 
breath,  so  to  speak. 

Beyond,  near  a  table  in  the  center  of  the 
spacious  chamber,  stood  a  group  that  arrested 
the  eye — a  Spanish  priest,  in  vestments  of  semi- 
state;  an  olive-skinned  man  whom  Maseden 
recognized  as  a  legal  practitioner  of  fair  repute 
in  a  community  where  chicanery  flourished,  and 
a  slenderly-built  woman  of  middle  height, 
though  taller  than  either  of  her  companions, 
whose  stylish  coat  and  skirt  of  thin,  gray  cloth, 
and  smart  shoes  tied  with  little  bows  of  black 
ribbon,  were  strangely  incongruous  with  the 


SHARP  WORK  15 

black  lace  mantilla  which  draped  her  head  and 
shoulders,  and  held  in  position  a  double  veil 
tied  firmly  beneath  her  chin. 

Maseden  was  so  astonished  at  discovering  the 
identity  of  the  lawyer  that  he  momentarily  lost 
interest  in  the  mysterious  woman  who  would 
soon  be  his  wife. 

"Senor  Porilla!"  he  cried.  "I  am  glad  you 
are  here.  Do  you  understand — " 

"It  is  forbidden!"  hissed  Steinbaum.  "One 
more  word,  and  back  you  go  to  your  cell ! ' ' 

*  *  Oh,  is  that  part  of  the  compact  ? ' '  said  Mase- 
den cheerfully.  "Well,  well!  We  must  not 
make  matters  unpleasant  for  a  lady — must  we, 
Steinbaum?  .  .  .  Now,  madam,  raise  your  veil, 
and  let  me  at  least  have  the  honor  of  knowing 
what  sort  of  person  the  future  Mrs.  Philip  Alex- 
ander Maseden  will  be ! ' ' 

The  only  answer  was  a  stifled  but  quite  audi- 
ble sob,  and  Maseden  had  an  impression  that 
the  lady  might  put  a  summary  stop  to  the  pro- 
ceedings by  fainting. 

Steinbaum,  however,  had  recovered  his  nerve 
in  the  stronger  light  of  the  great  hall,  especially 
since  the  soldiers  had  gathered  around. 

"The  senora  declines  to  unveil,"  he  growled 
in  Spanish.  "Begin,  padre!  There  is  not  a 
moment  to  spare." 

The  ecclesiastic  opened  a  book  and  plunged 
forthwith  into  the  marriage  service.  Maseden 


16  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

was  aware  that  the  shrinking  figure  by  his  side 
was  trembling  violently,  and  a  wave  of  pity  for 
her  surged  through  his  heart. 

' '  Cheer  up ! "  he  whispered.  *  *  It 's  only  a  mat- 
ter of  form,  anyhow;  and  I'm  glad  to  be  able 
to  help  you.  I  don't  care  a  red  cent  what  your 
motive  is." 

Steinbaum  gurgled  ominously,  and  the 
bridegroom  said  no  more.  Clearly,  though 
he  had  given  no  bond,  he  was  imperiling  the 
fulfillment  of  this  unhappy  girl's  desire  if 
he  talked. 

But  he  kept  his  wits  alert.  It  was  evident 
that  the  lady  understood  little  Latin  and  no 
Spanish.  She  was  quite  unable  to  follow  the 
sonorous  phrases.  When  the  portly  priest,  who 
seemed  to  have  small  relish  for  the  part  he  was 
compelled  to  play  in  this  amazing  marriage, 
asked  Maseden  if  he  would  have  "this  woman" 
to  be  his  wedded  wife,  the  bridegroom  answered 
"Yes,"  in  Spanish;  but  a  similar  question  ad- 
dressed to  the  bride  found  her  dumb. 

"Say  'I  will,'  "  murmured  Maseden  in  her 
ear. 

She  turned  slightly.  At  that  instant  their 
heads  came  close  together,  and  the  long,  unfa- 
miliar fragrance  of  a  woman's  well-tended  hair 
reached  him. 

It  had  an  extraordinary  effect.  Memories  of 
his  mother,  of  a  simple  old-world  dwelling  in  a 


SHARP  WORK  17 

Vermont  village,  rushed  in  on  him  with  an  al- 
most overwhelming  force. 

His  superb  self-possession  nearly  gave  way. 
He  felt  that  he  might  break  down  under  the  in- 
tolerable strain. 

He  feared,  during  a  few  seconds  of  anguish, 
that  he  might  reveal  his  heartache  to  these  men 
of  inferior  races. 

Then  the  pride  of  a  regal  birthright  came  to 
his  aid,  and  a  species  of  most  vivid  and 
poignant  consciousness  succeeded.  He  heard 
Steinbaum's  gruff  sponsorship  for  the  bride, 
obeyed  smilingly  when  told  to  take  her  right 
hand  in  his  right  hand,  and  looked  with  singular 
intentness  at  the  long,  straight,  artistic  fingers 
which  he  held. 

It  was  a  beautifully  modeled  hand,  well  kept, 
but  cold  and  tremulous.  The  queer  conceit 
leaped  up  in  him  that  though  he  might  never 
look  on  the  face  of  his  wedded  wife  he  would 
know  that  hand  if  they  met  again  only  at  the 
Judgment  Seat! 

Then,  in  a  dazed  way  which  impressed  the 
onlookers  as  the  height  of  American  noncha- 
lance, he  said,  after  the  celebrant:  "I,  Philip 
Alexander,  take  thee,  Madeleine — " 

Madeleine !  So  that  was  the  Christian  name 
of  the  woman  whom  he  was  taking  "till  death 
do  us  part,"  for  the  Spanish  liturgy  provided 
almost  an  exact  equivalent  of  the  English  serv- 


18  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

ice.  Madeleine!  He  had  never  even  known 
any  girl  of  the  name.  Somehow,  he  liked  it. 
Outwardly  so  calm,  he  was  inwardly  aflame 
with  a  new  longing  for  life  and  all  that  life 
meant. 

His  jumbled  wits  were  peremptorily  recalled 
to  the  demands  of  the  moment  by  the  would-be 
bride's  failure  to  repeat  her  share  of  the  mar- 
riage vow,  when  it  became  her  turn  to  take 
Maseden's  hand. 

The  priest  nodded,  and  Steinbaum,  now  car- 
rying himself  with  a  certain  truculence,  essayed 
to  lead  the  girl's  faltering  tongue  through  the 
Spanish  phrases. 

' '  The  lady  must  understand  what  she  is  say- 
ing," broke  in  Maseden,  dominating  the  gruff 
man  by  sheer  force  of  will. 

"Now,"  he  said,  and  his  voice  grew  gentle 
as  he  turned  to  the  woman  he  had  just  prom- 
ised "to  have  and  to  hold,"  "to  love  and  cher- 
ish," and  thereto  plighted  his  troth — "when 
the  priest  pauses,  I  will  translate,  and  you  must 
speak  the  words  aloud." 

He  listened,  in  a  waking  trance,  to  the  clear, 
well-bred  accents  of  a  woman  of  his  own  people 
uttering  the  binding  pledge  of  matrimony.  The 
Spanish  sentences  recalled  the  English  version, 
which  he  supplied  with  singular  accuracy,  see- 
ing that  he  had  only  attended  two  weddings  pre- 
viously, and  those  during  his  boyhood. 


SHARP  WORK  19 

" Madeleine" — lie  would  learn  her  surname 
when  lie  signed  the  register — was  obviously 
hard  pressed  to  retain  her  senses  till  the  end. 
She  was  sobbing  pitifully,  and  the  knowledge 
that  her  distress  was  induced  by  the  fate  im- 
mediately in  store  for  the  man  whom  she  was 
espousing  "by  God's  holy  ordinance"  tested 
Maseden's  steel  nerve  to  the  very  limit  of  en- 
durance. 

But  he  held  on  with  that  tenacious  chivalry 
which  is  the  finest  characteristic  of  his  class, 
and  even  smiled  at  Steinbaum's  fumbling  in  a 
waistcoat  pocket  for  a  ring.  He  was  putting 
the  ring  on  the  fourth  finger  of  his  wife's  left 
hand  and  pronouncing  the  last  formula  of  the 
ceremony,  when  he  caught  an  agonized  whis- 
per: 

"Please,  please,  forgive  me!  I  cannot  help 
myself.  I  am — more  than  sorry  for  you.  I 
shall  pray  for  you — and  think  of  you — always !" 

And  it  was  in  that  instant,  while  breathlessly 
catching  each  syllable  of  a  broken  plea  for  sym- 
pathy and  gage  of  lasting  remembrance,  that 
Maseden's  bemused  faculties  saw  a  means  of 
saving  his  life. 

Though  a  forlorn  hope,  at  the  best,  with  a 
hundred  chances  of  failure  against  one  of  suc- 
cess, he  would  seize  that  hundredth  chance. 
"What  matter  if  he  were  shot  at  quarter  to  eight 
instead  of  at  eight  o'clock?  Steel  before,  he 


20 

was  unemotional  as  marble  now,  a  man  of  stone 
with  a  brain  of  diamond  clarity. 

If  events  followed  their  normal  and  reason- 
able course,  he  would  be  free  of  these  accursed 
walls  within  a  few  minutes.  Come  what  might, 
he  would  strike  a  lusty  blow  for  freedom.  If 
he  failed,  and  sank  into  eternal  night,  one  or 
more  of  the  half-caste  hirelings  now  so  ready 
to  fulfill  the  murderous  schemes  of  President 
Suarez  and  his  henchman  Steinbaum  would  es- 
cort an  American's  spirit  to  the  realm  beyond 
the  shadows. 

He  did  not  stop  to  think  that  an  unknown 
woman's  strange  whim  should  have  made  pos- 
sible that  which,  without  her  presence  in  his 
prison-house,  was  absolutely  impossible;  still 
less  did  he  trouble  as  to  the  future,  immediate 
or  remote.  His  mind's  eye  was  fixed  on  a  sun- 
beam creeping  stealthily  towards  a  crack  in  the 
masonry  of  that  detestable  cell. 

He  meant  to  cheat  that  sunbeam,  one  way  or 
the  other! 


CHAPTER  II 

TIME    VERSUS    ETERNITY 

HENCEFOKTH  Maseden  concentrated  all  his 
faculties  on  the  successful  performance  of  the 
trick  which  might  win  him  clear  of  the  castle 
of  San  Juan.  Nothing  in  the  wide  world  mat- 
tered less  to  him  than  that  the  newly-made 
bride  should  stoop  to  sign  the  register  after  he 
had  done  so,  or  that  by  turning  to  address 
Steinbaum  he  was  deliberately  throwing  away 
the  opportunity  thus  afforded  of  learning  her 
surname. 

When  an  avowed  enemy  first  broached  the 
subject  of  this  extraordinary  marriage,  he  had 
made  a  bitter  jest  on  the  use  in  real  life  of  a 
well-worn  histrionic  situation.  And  now,  per- 
force, he  had  become  an  actor  of  rare  merit. 
Each  look,  each  word  must  lead  up  to  the  grand 
climax.  The  penalty  of  failure  was  not  the 
boredom  of  an  audience,  but  death ;  such  a  "cur- 
tain" would  sharpen  the  dullest  wits,  and  Mase- 
den, if  wholly  innocent  of  stage  experience 
hitherto,  was  not  dull. 

He  scored  his  first  point  while  the  bride  was 
signing  her  name.  Beaming  on  Steinbaum,  he 
said  cheerfully : 

21 


22  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"I  bargained  for  money,  Shylock.  You've 
had  your  pound  of  flesh.  "Where  are  my 
ducats?" 

Steinbaum  produced  a  ten-dollar  bill.     He 
even  forced  a  smile.    Seemingly  he  was  anx- 
ious to  keep  the  prisoner  in  this  devil-may-care  , 
mood. 

"Not  half  enough!"  cried  Maseden,  and  he 
broke  into  Spanish. 

"Hi,  my  gallant  caballeros,  isn't  there  an- 
other squad  in  the  patio?" 

Si,  senor!"  cried  several  voices. 

Even  these  crude,  half-caste  soldiers  revealed 
the  Latin  sense  of  the  dramatic  and  picturesque. 
They  appreciated  the  American's  cavalier  air. 
That  morning's  doings  would  lose  naught  in  the 
telling  when  the  story  spread  through  the  cafes 
of  Cartagena. 

And  what  a  story  they  would  have  to  tell! 
Little  could  they  guess  its  scope,  its  sensations 
yet  to  come. 

"Very  well,  then!  At  least  another  ten-spot, 
Steinbaum.  .  .  .  But,  mind  you,  sergeant,  not 
a  drop  till  the  volley  is  fired !  You  might  miss, 
you  know ! ' ' 

The  man  whom  he  addressed  as  sergeant  eyed 
the  two  notes  with  an  amiable  grin. 

"You  will  feel  nothing,  senor — we  promise 
you  that,"  he  said  wondering,  perhaps,  why  the 
prisoner  did  not  bestow  the  largesse  at  once. 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          23 

"Excellent!  Lead  on,  friend!  I  want  my  last 
few  minutes  to  myself." 

"There  are  some  documents  to  complete, " 
put  in  Steinbaum  hastily,  with  a  quick  hand- 
flourish  to  the  notary. 

Senor  Porilla  spread  two  legal-looking  parch- 
ments on  the  table. 

"These  are  conveyances  of  your  property  to 
your  wife,"  he  explained.  "I  am  instructed  to 
see  that  everything  is  done  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  the  Republic.  By  these  deeds 
you — " 

"Hand  over  everything  to  the  lady.  Is  that 
it?  I  understand.  Where  do  I  sign!  Here? 
Thank  you.  And  here?  Nothing  else  .  .  .  Mrs. 
Maseden,  I  have  given  you  my  name  and  all  my 
worldly  goods.  Pray  make  good  use  of  both 
endowments.  .  .  .  Now,  I  demand  to  be  left 
alone. ' ' 

Without  so  much  as  a  farewell  glance  at  his 
wife,  who,  to  keep  herself  from  falling,  was 
leaning  on  the  table,  he  strode  off  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  corridor  into  which  his  cell  opened. 
It  was  a  vital  part  of  his  scheme  that  he  should 
enter  first. 

The  jailer  would  have  left  the  door  open. 
Maseden  was  determined  that  it.  should  be 
closed. 

Captain  Gomez's  tight  boots  pinched  his  toes 
cruelly  as  he  walked,  but  he  recked  little  of  that 


24 

minor  inconvenience  at  the  moment.  In  four 
or  five  rapid  paces  he  reached  the  doorway  and 
passed  through  it.  There  he  turned  with  his 
right  hand  on  the  door  itself,  and  his  left  hand, 
carrying  the  helmet,  raised  in  a  parting  salute. 
He  smiled  most  affably,  and,  of  set  purpose, 
spoke  in  Spanish. 

"Good-by,  sefiora!"  he  said.  "Farewell, 
gentlemen!  I  shall  remember  this  pleasant 
gathering  as  long  as  I  live!" 

The  half-caste  was  at  his  prisoner's  side,  and 
enjoying  the  episode  thoroughly.  He  would 
swill  his  share  of  the  wine,  of  course,  and  the 
hour  of  the  siesta  should  find  him  comfortably 
drunk. 

Maseden  flourished  his  left  hand  again,  and 
the  plumed  helmet  temporarily  obscured  the 
jailer's  vision.  The  door  swung  on  its  hinges. 
The  lock  clashed.  In  the  same  instant  the  Amer- 
ican's  clenched  right  fist  landed  on  the  half- 
caste's  jaw,  finding  with  scientific  accuracy  the 
cluster  of  nerves  which  the  world  of  pugilism 
terms  "the  point." 

It  was  a  perfect  blow,  clean  and  hard,  deliv- 
ered by  an  athlete.  Out  of  the  tail  of  his  eye, 
Maseden  had  seen  where  to  hit.  He  knew  how 
to  hit  already,  and  put  every  ounce  of  his 
weight,  each  shred  of  his  boxing  knowledge,  into 
that  one  punch. 

It  had  to  be  a  complete  "knock-out,"  or  his 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          25^ 

plan  miscarried.  A  cry,  a  struggle,  a  revolver 
shot,  would  have  brought  a  score  of  assailants 
thundering  on  each  door. 

As  it  happened,  however,  the  hapless  Span- 
iard collapsed  as  though  he  were  struck  dead 
by  heart-failure  or  apoplexy.  Maseden  caught 
the  inert  body  before  it  reached  the  stone  floor, 
and  carried  it  swiftly  into  the  cell.  Improvising 
a  gag  out  of  his  discarded  pajamas,  he  bound 
the  half-caste's  hands  and  feet  together  be- 
hind his  back,  utilizing  the  man's  own  leather 
belt  for  the  purpose. 

These  things  were  done  swiftly  but  without 
nervous  haste.  The  very  essence  of  the  plan 
was  the  conviction  that  no  forward  step  should 
be  taken  without  making  sure  that  the  prior 
moves  were  complete  and  thorough. 

He  had  detached  from  the  jailer's  belt  a  chain 
carrying  a  bunch  of  keys  and  the  revolver  in 
its  leather  holster.  Before  slipping  this  latter 
over  the  belt  he  was  wearing,  he  examined  it. 
Though  somewhat  old-fashioned,  it  seemed  to 
be  thoroughly  serviceable,  and  held  six  car- 
tridges with  bull-nose  bullets  of  heavy  caliber. 

Then  he  searched  the  unconscious  man's 
pockets  for  cigarettes  and  matches.  Here  he 
encountered  an  unforeseen  delay.  Every  Span- 
iard carries  either  cigarettes  or  the  materials 
for  rolling  them,  but  this  fellow  seemed  to  be 
an  exception. 


26  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Now,  a  cigarette  formed  an  almost  indispen- 
sable item  in  Maseden's  scheme;  but  time  was 
even  more  precious,  and  he  was  about  to  aban- 
don the  search  when  he  noticed  that  one  button- 
hole of  the  jailer's  tunic  was  far  more  frayed 
than  any  other.  He  tore  open  the  coat,  and 
found  both  cigarettes  and  matches  in  an  inside 
breast  pocket. 

Not  one  man  in  a  million,  in  similar  condi- 
tions, would  have  been  cool-headed  enough  to 
observe  such  a  trivial  detail  as  a  frayed  button- 
hole. 

Next  he  examined  the  bunch  of  keys,  and  came 
to  the  conclusion,  rightly  as  it  transpired,  that 
the  same  large  key  fitted  the  locks  of  both  doors ; 
which,  however,  were  heavily  barred  by  external 
draw-bolts. 

Jamming  on  the  helmet — like  the  glittering 
boots,  it  was  a  size  too  small — he  lowered  the 
chin-strap,  lighted  a  cigarette,  and  limped 
quickly  along  the  corridor  towards  the  patio, 
which  filled  a  square  equal  in  size  to  the  area 
of  the  great  hall. 

As  he  left  the  cell  he  heard  the  half-caste's 
breathing  become  more  regular.  The  man  would 
soon  recover  his  senses.  Would  the  gag  prove 
effective?  Maseden  dared  not  wait  to  make 
sure. 

He  could  have  induced  a  more  lasting  silence, 
but  even  life  itself  might  be  purchased  too 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          27 

dearly;  he  took  the  risk  of  a  speedy  uproar. 

Unlocking  the  door,  with  a  confident  rattling 
of  keys  and  chain,  he  shouted: 

*  *  Hi,  guards !  Draw  the  bolts ! ' ' 

The  soldiers  in  the  patio  were  ready  for  some 
such  summons,  though  the  hour  was  slightly  in 
advance  of  the  time  fixed  for  the  American's 
execution,  so  the  order  was  obeyed  with  alacrity. 
Maseden  appeared  in  the  doorway,  taking  care 
that  the  door  did  not  swing  far  back.  He  blew 
a  great  cloud  of  smoke ;  growled  over  his  shoul- 
der: "I'll  return  in  five  minutes,"  pulled  the 
door  to,  and  swaggered  past  the  waiting  troops, 
not  forgetting  to  salute  as  they  shouldered  their 
rifles. 

A  long  time  afterwards  he  learned  that  he 
actually  owed  his  escape  to  Captain  Ferdinando 
Gomez's  tight  boots.  One  of  the  men  was  ob- 
servant, and  inclined  to  be  skeptical. 

"Who's  that?"  he  said.  "Not  el  Capitan 
Ferdinando,  I'll  swear!" 

"Idiot!"  grinned  another.  "Look  at  his 
limp!  He  pinches  his  toes  till  he  can  hardly 
walk." 

At  the  gateway,  or  porch,  leading  to  the  patio, 
stood  a  sentry,  who,  luckily,  was  gazing  sea- 
ward. Maseden  conserved  the  cigarette  for  an- 
other volume  of  smoke,  and  pulled  down  the 
chin-strap  determinedly. 

He   got   beyond   this    dragon   without   any 


28  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

difficulty.  Indeed,  the  man  was  taken  by  sur- 
prise, and  only  noticed  him  when  he  had  gone 
by. 

Maseden  was  now  in  a  graveled  square.  Be- 
hind him,  and  to  the  left,  stood  the  time-dark- 
ened walls  of  the  old  Spanish  fortress.  In  front, 
broken  only  by  a  line  of  trees  and  the  squat 
humps  of  six  antiquated  cannons,  sparkled  the 
blue  expanse  of  the  Pacific.  To  the  right  lay 
the  port,  the  new  town,  and  such  measure  of 
freedom  as  he  might  win. 

He  had  yet  to  pass  the  main  entrance  to  the 
castle,  where,  in  addition  to  a  sentry,  would 
surely  be  stationed  some  sharp-eyed  servants, 
each  and  all  on  the  qui  vive  at  that  early  hour, 
and  stirred  to  unusual  activity  by  the  morning's 
news,  because  Cartagena  regarded  a  change  of 
president  by  means  of  a  revolution  as  a  sort  of 
movable  holiday. 

At  this  crisis,  luck  befriended  him.  In  the 
shade  of  the  trees  opposite  the  main  gate  was 
an  orderly  holding  a  horse.  The  animal's  trap- 
pings showed  that  it  did  not  belong  to  a  private 
soldier,  and  the  fact  that  the  man  stood  to  at- 
tention as  Maseden  approached  seemed  to  indi- 
cate that  which  was  actually  the  fact — the 
charger  belonged  to  none  other  than  the  presi- 
dent's aide-de-camp. 

Fortune  seldom  bestows  her  favors  in  what 
the  casino-jargon  of  Monte  Carlo  describes  as 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          29 

"intermittent  sequences,"  or,  in  plain  language, 
alternate  coups  of  red  and  black,  successive 
strokes  of  good  and  bad  luck.  The  fickle  god- 
dess rather  inclines  to  runs  on  a  color.  Having 
brought  Maseden  to  the  very  brink  of  the  grave, 
she  had  decided  to  help  him  now. 

As  it  turned  out,  Gomez's  soldier  servant  had 
been  injured  during  the  overnight  disturbance, 
and  the  deputy  was  a  newcomer. 

He  saluted,  held  bridle  and  stirrup  while 
Maseden  mounted,  and  strolled  casually  across 
the  square  to  inquire  whether  he  ought  to  wait 
or  go  back  to  his  quarters.  He  succeeded  in  puz- 
zling the  very  sergeant  who  was  mentally  con- 
triving the  best  means  of  securing  the  lion's,  or 
sergeant's,  share  of  twenty  dollars'  worth  of 
wine. 

1  'Captain  Gomez  has  not  gone  out,"  snapped 
the  calculator.  "Get  out  of  the  way!  Don't 
stand  there  like  the  ears  of  a  donkey !  I  have 
occupation.  The  Senor  Steinbaum  is  putting  a 
lady  into  his  car,  and  she  is  very  ill." 

So  the  trooper  was  unceremoniously  brushed 
aside.  A  little  later  he  might  have  reminded 
the  sergeant  of  the  folly  of  counting  chickens 
before  the  eggs  are  hatched. 

Maseden  was  a  first-rate  horseman,  but,  owing 
to  the  discomfort  of  excruciatingly  tight  boots 
and  a  wobbly  helmet,  he  did  not  enjoy  the  first 
half  mile  of  a  fast  gallop  down  the  winding  road 


30  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

which  he  was  obliged  to  follow  before  he  could 
strike  into  the  country.  Beneath,  to  the  left,  and 
on  a  plateau  in  front,  were  respectively  the  an- 
cient and  modern  sections  of  Cartagena.  But, 
having  succeeded  thus  far,  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  inflexibly  as  to  the  course  he  would  pur- 
sue. 

He  meant  to  reach  his  own  ranch,  twelve 
miles  inland,  within  the  hour.  He  reckoned  that, 
in  the  easy-going  South  American  way,  it  would 
not  be  occupied  as  yet  by  an  armed  guard.  An 
officer  had  rummaged  among  his  papers  that 
morning,  but  came  away  with  the  others. 

In  any  event,  in  that  direction,  and  there  only, 
lay  any  real  chance  of  ultimate  safety. 

On  his  estate  there  were  two  men  at  least  in 
whom  he  might  place  trust;  and  even  if  he 
could  not  enter  the  house,  one  of  them  might 
obtain  for  him  the  clothes  and  money  without 
wjiich  he  had  not  the  remotest  prospect  of 
getting  away  alive  from  the  Republic  of  San 
Juan. 

He  had  pocketed  Steinbaum's  twenty  dollars 
in  order  to  hire  a  horse,  but  the  unwitting  hos- 
pitality of  Captain  Gomez  had  provided  him 
with  a  better  animal  than  was  to  be  picked  up 
at  the  nearest  posada.  Indeed,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  an  automobile,  a  luxury  that  was  few  and 
far  between  in  Cartagena,  he  could  not  have 
secured  a  swifter  or  more  reliable  conveyance 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          31 

than  this  very  steed,  which  would  cover  the 
twelve  miles  in  less  than  an  hour,  and  had  also 
saved  him  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  running  walk, 
an  experience  savoring  of  Chinese  torture  when 
undertaken  in  tight  boots. 

The  notion  of  possible  pursuit  by  a  party  of 
soldiers  in  a  car  had  barely  occurred  to  him 
when  he  heard  the  rapid  panting  of  an  automo- 
bile in  the  rear. 

He  slackened  pace,  took  a  shorter  grip  of  the 
reins,  and  loosened  the  revolver  in  its  case. 
Flight  was  ridiculous,  unless  he  made  across 
country;  a  last  resource,  involving  a  fatal  loss 
of  time. 

He  took  nothing  for  granted.  Steinbaum  was 
one  of  the  half-dozen  car-owners  in  Cartagena, 
and  this  was  surely  he,  escorting  Senor  Porilla 
and  the  lady  back  to  the  town. 

They  might  pass  him  without  recognition.  If 
they  didn't,  he  would  shoot  Steinbaum  and  put 
a  bullet  into  a  tire.  There  would  be  no  half 
measures.  Suarez  and  his  ally  had  declared 
war  on  him  to  the  death,  and  war  they  would 
have  without  stint  or  quarter. 

It  was  a  ticklish  moment  when  the  fast-run- 
ning car  drew  near.  Maseden  affected  to  bend 
over  and  examine  the  horse's  fore  action,  as 
though  he  suspected  lameness  or  a  loose  shoe. 
He  gave  one  swift  underlook  into  the  limou- 
sine as  it  sped  by  and  fancied  he  saw  Porilla, 


32  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

seated  with  his  back  to  the  engine,  bending 
forward. 

That  was  all.  The  car  raced  on  and  was 
speedily  lost  in  a  dust-cloud. 

So  far,  so  good.  He  was  dodging  peril  in  the 
hairbreadth  fashion  popularly  ascribed  to  war- 
riors on  a  stricken  field.  Yet  his  mount  was 
hardly  in  a  canter  again  before  he  was  plunged 
without  warning  into  the  most  ticklish  dilemma 
of  all. 

Steinbaum's  car  had  just  turned  to  the  left, 
where  the  road  bifurcated  a  few  hundred  yards 
ahead,  when  another  car  came  flying  down  the 
other  road — that  which  the  fugitive  himself 
must  take  for  nearly  half  a  mile ;  and  this  sec- 
ond menace  harbored  no  less  a  personage  than 
Don  Enrico  Suarez,  president  of  the  Republic 
of  San  Juan! 

It  was  an  open  car,  too,  and  the  president  was 
seated  alone  in  the  tonneau. 

Maseden  jumped  to  the  instant  conclusion 
that  his  enemy  was  hurrying  to  witness  his  exe- 
cution, probably  to  jeer  at  him  for  having  ven- 
tured to  cross  the  predestined  path  of  a  con- 
queror. But,  even  though  he  passed,  Suarez 
would  know  that  the  gaily  bedizened  horseman 
was  not  his  glittering  aide-de-camp. 

To  permit  the  president  to  reach  the  Castle 
meant  the  beginning  of  an  irresistible  pursuit 
within  five  minutes.  However,  that  considera- 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          33 

tion  did  not  bother  the  Vennonter  if  for  no  bet- 
ter reason  than  that  he  was  determined  it  should 
not  come  into  play. 

He  smiled  thoughtfully,  adjusted  the 
helmet  once  more,  and  voiced  his  sentiments 
aloud. 

"Good!"  he  said.  "This  time,  Enrico,  you 
and  I  square  accounts ! ' ' 

Pulling  up,  he  took  the  middle  of  the  road, 
wheeling  the  horse  "half  left,"  and  holding  up 
his  right  hand.  The  chauffeur  saw  him,  slack- 
ened speed,  and  finally  halted  within  a  distance 
of  a  few  feet.  From  first  to  last,  the  man  re- 
garded the  newcomer  as  being  Captain  Gomez. 
The  wind-screen  was  up,  and  the  roads  were 
dust-laden,  so  he  could  not  see  with  absolute  ac- 
curacy. Moreover,  events  followed  each  other 
so- rapidly  that  he  was  given  no  chance  to  cor- 
rect an  erroneous  first  impression. 

The  car  being  stopped,  Maseden  moved  on, 
passing  by  the  left.  Drawing  the  revolver,  he 
fired  at  the  front  right-hand  tire  at  such  close 
range  that  it  was  impossible  to  miss.  The  re- 
ports of  the  weapon  and  the  bursting  tube  were 
simultaneous. 

The  next  shot  would  have  lodged  in  the  presi- 
dent's heart  if  the  startled  horse  had  not 
swerved.  As  it  was,  quite  a  nasty  hole  was  torn 
in  the  presidential  anatomy;  Suarez,  himself 
fumbling  for  an  automatic  pistol,  sank  back  in 


34  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  tonneau  a  severely  if  not  mortally  wounded 
man. 

For  one  fateful  instant,  the  eyes  of  the  two 
had  met  and  clashed,  and  recognition  was  mu- 
tual. 

A  third  bullet  plowed  through  the  back  right- 
hand  tire,  and  Maseden  galloped  off,  the  horse 
being  only  too  eager  to  get  away  from  the 
racket. 

The  American  did  not  look  behind  to  ascer- 
tain what  the  chauffeur  was  doing.  It  really 
did  not  matter  a  great  deal.  Speed  and  direc- 
.  tion  were  the  paramount  conditions  during  the 
next  fifty  minutes.  The  die  was  cast  now  be- 
yond all  hope  of  revocation.  He  was  at  war 
with  the  Republic,  and,  although  he  had  ren- 
dered its  citizens  a  valuable  service  in  shooting 
their  rascally  president,  they  might  not  regard 
the  incident  in  its  proper  light  until  a  period  far 
too  late  to  benefit  the  philanthropist. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  interesting  historically 
and  otherwise,  the  chauffeur  was  convinced  that 
Captain  Ferdinando  Gomez  had  assassinated 
his  master,  and  said  so,  with  many  oaths,  when 
he  summoned  assistance  from  a  neighboring 
house.  It  may  also  be  placed  on  record  here  that 
about  the  same  time  the  gallant  aide-de-camp 
had  come  to  suspect  that  his  beautiful  uniform, 
if  not  returned  promptly,  might  be  sadly 
smirched  by  a  score  of  bullets,  with  accessories ; 


TIME  VEESUS  ETERNITY          35 

and  was  kicking  up  a  fearful  row  because  no  one 
could  get  at  the  jailer  and  rescue  that  gala  cos- 
tume before  the  prisoner  was  led  forth  to  exe- 
cution. 

In  a  word,  the  Republic's  presidential  af- 
fairs were  greatly  mixed,  and  remained  in  in- 
extricable confusion  until  long  after  Maseden 
drew  rein  on  a  blown  horse  at  the  gate  of  his 
own  estancia. 

The  ranch,  known  as  Los  Andes,  and  one  of 
the  finest  estates  in  San  Juan,  provided  the 
original  bone  of  contention  between  Maseden 
and  Suarez.  It  had  been  built  up,  during  thirty 
lazy  years,  by  a  distant  cousin  of  Suarez,  an 
elderly  bachelor,  who  grew  coffee  and  maize, 
and  reared  stock  in  a  hap-hazard  way. 

Seven  years  earlier  he  had  met  the  young 
American  in  New  York,  took  a  liking  to  him, 
and  offered  to  employ  him  as  overseer  while 
teaching  him  the  business.  The  pupil  soon  be- 
came the  instructor.  Scientific  methods  were 
introduced,  direct  markets  were  tapped,  and 
the  produce  of  the  estate  was  quadrupled 
within  a  few  seasons. 

Then  the  older  man  died,  and  left  the  ranch 
and  its  contents  to  his  assistant.  There  was 
not  much  money — the  capital  was  sunk  in 
stock  and  improvement — so  a  number  of  free 
and  independent  burghers  of  Cartagena  re- 
ceived smaller  amounts  than  they  expected. 


36  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Suarez  was  one  of  the  beneficiaries,  seven  in 
all.  Six  took  the  situation  calmly.  He  alone 
was  irreconcilable,  and  blustered  about  legal 
proceedings,  only  desisting  when  persuaded 
that  he  had  no  case,  even  for  the  venal  courts 
of  San  Juan. 

And  now,  on  that  sultry  January  morning, 
the  lawful  owner  of  the  Los  Andes  ranch, 
while  awaiting  the  appearance  of  a  peon,  who, 
he  knew,  was  tending  some  cattle  in  a  byre  be- 
hind the  lodge,  was  wondering  whether  or  not 
he  might  urge  a  tired  charger  into  a  final 
canter  to  the  door  of  his  own  house  without 
bringing  about  a  pitched  battle  when  he  arrived 
there. 

At  last  came  Pedro — every  second  man  in 
South  America  is  named  after  the  chief  of  the 
Apostles — a  brown,  lithe,  Indian-looking  per- 
son. But  he  was  Spanish  enough  in  the  expres- 
sion of  his  emotions. 

1 1  By  the  eleven  thousand  virgins ! "  he  cried 
joyously,  after  a  first  stare  of  incredulity,  for 
the  eyes  rolled  in  his  head  at  sight  of  Mase- 
den's  garb,  "it  is  not  true,  then,  master,  that 
you  are  a  prisoner!" 

"Who  says  that  I  am?"  inquired  Maseden. 

"They  say  it  up  there  at  the  estancia, 
senor,"  and  Pedro  jerked  a  thumb  towards 
an  avenue  of  mahogany  trees. 

"They  say?    Who  say?" 


TIME  VERSUS  ETERNITY          37 

Pedro  was  scared,  but  Maseden  had  taught 
his  helpers  to  answer  truthfully. 

"Old  Lopez  said  it,  senor.  He  told  me  the 
president's  men  had  charged  him  to  touch  noth- 
ing till  they  returned." 

Maseden 's  heart  throbbed  more  furiously  at 
that  reply  than  at  aught  which  had  befallen 
Mm  during  the  few  pregnant  hours  since  dawn. 

"Those  rascals  have  gone,  then?"  he  said, 
so  placidly  that  the  peon  was  bewildered. 

' ' Si,  senor.    Did  they  not  go  with  you ? ' ' 

"Yes.  I  was  not  sure  of  all.  .  .  .  Close 
and  lock  the  gate,  Pedro.  Leave  other  things. 
Saddle  your  mustang  and  mount  guard  at  the 
bend  in  the  avenue,  from  which  you  can  watch 
the  Cartagena  road.  If  you  see  horses,  or  an 
automobile,  coming  this  way,  ride  to  the  house 
and  tell  me." 

"Si,  senor." 

Pedro  hurried  off.  Maseden  rode  on  at  the 
best  pace  the  spent  horse  was  capable  of.  He 
might  lose  a  potential  fortune — though  the 
shooting  of  Suarez  should  remove  the  worst 
of  the  hostile  influences  arrayed  against  him — 
but  surely  he  could  now  save  his  life. 

He  had  never  realized  how  dear  life  was  at 
twenty-eight  until  that  morning.  Hitherto  he 
had  given  no  thought  to  it.  Now  he  wanted  to 
live  till  he  was  eighty ! 


CHAPTER   in 

ADIOS,    SAN    JUAN" 

SUAEEZ  was  not  dead.  He  was  not  even  dan- 
gerously wounded.  A  two-ounce  bullet  had 
dealt  an  upper  left  rib  a  blow  like  the 
kick  of  a  horse,  but  at  such  an  angle  that 
the  bone  deflected  its  flight.  Consequently,  a 
fractured  sternal  costa,  loss  of  blood,  and  a 
most  painful  flesh  wound  formed  for  Suarez 
the  collective  outcome  of  Maseden's  disturbed 
aiming. 

In  effect,  the  president  Tlgained  conscious- 
ness about  the  time  Captain  Gomez  had  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  several  members  of  the 
new  government  that  it  was  not  he,  but  an  es- 
caped prisoner,  who  had  so  grievously  mal- 
treated the  head  of  the  Eepublic. 

A  doctor  announced  that  Senor  Suarez  must 
be  given  complete  rest  and  freedom  from  public 
affairs  during  the  ensuing  week  or  ten  days. 
Even  the  wrathful  president  himself,  after  mak- 
ing known  the  true  identity  of  his  assailant,  felt 
that  he  had  no  option  other  than  placing  the 
affairs  of  the  nation  temporarily  in  the  hands 
of  his  associates. 

88 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  39' 

He  made  the  best  of  an  awkward  situation, 
therefore,  and  issued  a  vainglorious  decree  an- 
nouncing the  change. 

Now,  even  San  Juan  could  not  provide  a  sec- 
ond revolution  within  twelve  hours.  States, 
like  human  beings,  can  experience  a  surfeit  of 
excitement;  moreover,  the  next  gang  of  office- 
seekers  had  not  yet  emerged  from  the  welter 
of  parties.  Sometimes,  too,  in  South  America, 
a  disabled  president  is  preferable  to  an  active 
one,  because  the  heads  of  departments  can  do 
a  little  pilfering  on  their  own  account. 

So  San  Juan  became  virtuously  indignant 
over  the  "attempted  assassination"  of  that  re- 
nowned "liberator,"  Enrico  Suarez.  A  hue 
and  cry  was  raised  for  the  scoundrelly  Ameri- 
can, several  supporters  of  real  law  and  order 
in  the  State  were  arrested,  and  cavalry  and 
police  rode  forth  on  Maseden's  trail. 

This  planning  and  scheming  and  explaining 
consumed  valuable  time,  however.  It  was  high 
noon  when  a  party  of  horsemen,  headed  by  a 
well-informed  guide,  in  the  person  of  the  ranch 
superintendent,  "old"  Lopez,  tore  along  the 
avenue  of  mahogany  trees  at  Los  Andes. 

Lopez,  a  wizened,  shrewd,  and  sufficiently 
trustworthy  half-breed,  was  not  betraying  his 
employer.  He  was  merely  carrying  out  explicit 
instructions.  Maseden  had  no  desire  to  place 
his  faithful  servants  in  the  power  of  the 


40  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Cartagena  harpies.  He  was  literally  fighting 
for  his  life  now.  He  meant  to  meet  vio- 
lence with  greater  violence,  guile  with  deeper 
guile. 

When  a  Covenanter  buckles  on  the  sword,  let 
professional  swashbucklers  take  heed ;  when  an 
honest  man  plots,  let  rogues  beware.  A  clear- 
headed American,  armed  against  oppression, 
can  be  at  once  a  most  lusty  warrior  and  the 
astutest  of  strategists. 

"It  is  the  unexpected  that  happens,"  said 
Disraeli  in  one  of  his  happiest  epigrams.  A 
few  strenuous  hours  spent  in  the  Republic  of 
San  Juan  in  Maseden's  plight  would  have 
yielded  the  cynic  material  for  a  dozen  like 
quips,  if  he  had  survived  the  experience. 

When  Maseden  reached  the  estancia  he  was 
received  by  Lopez  with  even  greater  amazement 
than  was  displayed  by  the  peon.  Being  a  privi- 
leged person,  the  old  fellow  expressed  himself 
in  absolutely  untranslatable  language.  After 
a  lurid  preamble,  he  went  on : 

"But,  thanks  to  the  heavenly  ones,  I  see  you 
again,  senor,  safe  and  sound,  though  in  a 
strange  livery.  Is  it  true,  then,  that  the  presi- 
dent is  dead?" 

"Yes.    Both  of  them,  I  believe." 

Maseden  laughed  wearily.  He  was  tired,  and 
the  day  was  only  beginning.  He  knew,  of  course, 
that  Lopez  meant  Valdez,  having  probably,  as 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  41 

yet,  not  so  much  as  heard  of  Suarez  as  chief  of 
the  Republic. 

"I'll  explain  matters,"  he  said.  "Stand  by 
to  catch  me  if  I  fall  when  I  dismount.  The 
devil  take  all  dudes  and  their  vanities !  These 
boots  have  nearly  killed  me." 

In  a  minute  the  offending  jack  boots  were  off 
and  flung  into  the  veranda,  the  helmet  after 
them.  The  horse  was  given  over  to  the  care  of 
a  peon,  and  Maseden  went  to  his  bedroom. 

A  glance  at  a  big  safe  showed  that  the  letter 
lock  had  defied  curiosity,  and  no  serious  at- 
tempt had  been  made  to  force  it.  He  saw  that 
the  drawers  in  a  bureau  in  the  adjoining  room 
had  been  ransacked  hastily.  Probably,  the  new 
president's  emissaries  were  instructed  to  look 
for  a  list  of  "conspirators" — of  well-affected 
citizens,  that  is — who  meant  to  support  the  hon- 
orable regime  of  Valdez. 

"Now,  listen  while  I  talk,"  said  Maseden, 
tearing  open  the  tight-fitting  blue  coat.  "I  can 
put  faith  in  you,  I  suppose  ? ' ' 

"Senor—  " 

"Yes,  I  take  it  for  granted.  Besides,  if  you 
stick  to  me  you  may  come  out  on  top  yourself. 
Valdez  is  dead.  He  was  murdered  last  night, 
and  Enrico  Suarez  stepped  into  his  shoes.  .  .  . 
Oh,  I  know  Enrico's  real  name,  but  I  haven't 
a  second  to  spare.  I  was  sentenced  to  death 
early  this  morning,  and  married  about  an  hour 


42  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

ago,  just  before  being  taken  out  to  be  shot.  .  .  . 
Well,  I  got  away;  how — is  of  no  concern 
to  you.  In  fact,  it  is  better  that  you  shouldn't 
know. 

"A  lady  will  come  into  possession  here.  She 
will  call  herself  the  Senora  Maseden.  Seiior 
Porilla  will  introduce  her.  She  and  the  lawyer 
are  playing  some  game  to  suit  Suarez  and 
Steinbaum,  the  German  consul  at  Cartagena. 
My  escape  may  bother  them  a  bit,  but  I 
cannot  guess  just  how  things  will  work  out. 
What  orders  did  Enrico's  lieutenant  give 
you?" 

The  foreman's  wits  were  rather  mixed  by 
his  master's  extraordinary  budget  of  news,  but 
he  answered  readily. 

"He  told  me,  senor,  if  I  valued  my  life,  to 
see  that  nothing  was  disturbed  in  the  estancia 
till  the  president  came  or  sent  a  representa- 
tive." 

"I  thought  so.  That  gives  me  a  sporting 
chance. ' ' 

Maseden  had  changed  rapidly  into  his  own 
clothes,  an  ordinary  riding  costume  suitable  to 
a  tropical  climate.  He  opened  the  safe,  stuffed 
some  papers  into  his  pockets,  also  a  quantity 
of  gold,  silver,  and  notes. 

Then  he  wrote  a  letter,  and  filled  in  a  check. 
Having  addressed  and  stamped  the  envelope, 
he  handed  it  to  his  assistant. 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  43' 

"In  five  minutes  or  less,  yon  will  be  riding 
at  a  steady  gallop  towards  Cartagena,"  he  said. 
"If  possible,  deliver  that  letter  yourself  to 
Senor  Peguero,  the  American  consul.  By  'pos- 
sible' I  mean  if  you  are  not  held  up  by  soldiers 
or  police  on  the  way.  Otherwise,  keep  it  con- 
cealed, and  post  it  when  the  opportunity 
serves." 

Lopez  knew  the  pleasant  methods  of  his  fel- 
low-republicans. 

"They  may  search  me,  senor,"  he  said. 

"Not  if  you  do  as  I  tell  you.  Curse  me  flu- 
ently enough,  and  they'll  look  on  you  as  their 
best  friend." 

"Senor!"  protested  the  old  man. 

"Yes.  I  mean  it.  Call  me  all  the  names  you 
can  lay  tongue  to.  When  I  leave  this  room 
I'll  follow  you,  revolver  in  hand.  Be  careful 
to  scowl  and  act  unwillingly.  I  want  some  food 
and  a  couple  of  bottles  of  wine,  also  a  leather 
bottle  full  of  water  and  a  tin  cup.  Saddle  the 
Cid,  and  see  that  three  or  four  good  measures 
of  corn  are  put  in  the  saddle-bags  with  the 
other  things. 

"When  I  vanish  rush  to  the  stables,  pick  out 
a  good  mustang,  and  be  in  Cartagena  within 
the  hour.  If  not  interfered  with,  take  the  letter 
to  Senor  Peguero.  Don't  wait  for  an  answer, 
but  hurry  at  top  speed  to  the  Castle,  where  you 
must  tell  some  one  that  I  came  back  to  the  ranch 


44  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

and  ordered  you  about  at  the  muzzle  of  a  re- 
volver. 

"Lead  the  soldiers  straight  here.  If  Captain 
Gomez  is  in  command,  assure  him  that  you  res- 
cued his  uniform,  and  he'll  be  your  friend  for- 
ever. Should  you  meet  them  on  the  way,  turn 
back  with  them.  You  understand?  You're  for 
the  president  and  against  me. ' ' 

Lopez  smiled  till  his  face  was  a  mass  of 
wrinkles.  He  was  beginning  to  see  through  the 
scheme,  and  was  Spaniard  enough  to  appreciate 
the  leaven  of  intrigue. 

"But  when  and  where  shall  I  find  you,  senor, 
if  you  are  taking  a  long  journey?"  he  said,  still 
grinning. 

"Not  a  mile  away,  if  all  goes  well.  Soon 
after  dusk  come  to  the  Grove  of  the  Doves  at 
sunset.  I'll  turn  up.  If  you  are  delayed,  and 
it  is  dark,  hoot  like  an  owl,  and  I'll  answer.  If 
you  don't  come  at  all  I'll  know  it's  too  danger- 
ous, and  will  be  there  again  at  dawn,  at  noon, 
and  at  sunset  to-morrow.  Pick  up  some  news 
in  Cartagena.  You  will  be  told,  of  course,  that 
I  have  shot  Suarez.  Be  careful  to  show  your 
horrified  surprise,  and  ask  if  the  dear  man  is 
really  dead.  If  he  is,  try  and  find  out  who  is 
in  power.  Of  course  there 's  a  bare  chance  that 
Porilla  may  be  made  president,  in  which  case 
I  might  be  given  a  fair  trial  when  an  American 
man-of-war  is  anchored  in  the  roads.  .  .  .  Oh, 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  45 

by  the  way,  you  might  find  out  who  the  lady  is 
I  married  this  morning." 

"Seiior!"  gasped  Lopez,  in  sheer  bewilder- 
ment. 

"I  haven't  the  remotest  notion  who  she  is, 
or  even  what  she  looks  like,"  laughed  Maseden. 
"Now,  there's  no  more  time  for  talk,"  and  he 
raised  his  voice.  "Obey  me  at  once,  you  lazy 
old  hound,  or  I  '11  blow  your  brains  out !  Send 
a  peon  for  the  Cid.  Fail  me  in  one  single  thing, 
and  I'll  put  a  bullet  through  your  head!  .  .  . 
Margarita!  Some  bread  and  meat,  quick!  I'll 
soon  show  you  who  is  master  in  this  house. 
Suarez  may  give  orders  in  Cartagena,  but  I  give 
them  here ! ' ' 

Lopez  hurried  out,  wringing  his  hands.  Mase- 
den followed,  brandishing  the  revolver.  Some 
timid  servants,  who  had  gathered  in  the  patio 
at  the  news  of  their  employer's  return,  made 
as  though  they  would  run,  but  he  stopped  them 
with  a  fierce  threat,  and,  while  munching  the 
food  brought  by  an  aged  housekeeper,  behaved 
and  spoke  so  outrageously  that  they  thought  he 
was  mad. 

Poor  creatures!  They  had  served  him  well 
in  the  past.  Now  he  was  trying  to  save  their 
lives  by  giving  them  something  to  say  against 
him  when  questioned  by  the  president's  hench- 
men. 

Meanwhile,  he  had  a  sharp  ear  for  the  hoof- 


46  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

beats  of  a  galloping  horse.  Pedro,  knowing 
nothing  of  the  scene  in  the  estancia,  was  still 
on  guard  at  the  bend  in  the  avenue,  and  might 
be  trusted  to  give  warning  of  the  enemy's  ap- 
proach. But  Maseden  was  allowed  to  eat  his 
fill. 

A  very  terrified  Lopez  brought  a  hardy-look- 
ing mustang  to  the  gateway,  and  his  master 
saw  a  repeating  rifle  slung  to  the  saddle.  That 
was  a  thoughtful  thing.  Such  a  weapon  might 
be  exceedingly  useful. 

"Where  are  the  cartridges?"  he  thundered, 

"Here,  most  excellent  one,"  stammered  the 
other,  producing  a  bandolier. 

The  American  swung  into  the  saddle,  swore 
at  his  co-conspirator  heartily,  and  was  off. 

So  Lopez  had  a  fine  tale  to  tell  when  his  mus- 
tang loped  up  to  the  entrance  of  the  Castle  of 
San  Juan.  He  had  a  fine  tale  to  hear,  too,  as 
he  rode  back  to  the  ranch  with  a  body  of  horse 
led  by  the  fastidious  and  color-loving  Ferdi- 
nando  Gomez. 

The  servants,  of  course,  bore  out  the  super- 
intendent's story  of  Maseden 's  extraordinary 
behavior.  Obviously,  no  one  at  the  estancia 
was  to  blame  for  this  daring  prisoner's  second 
escape.  The  officer  who  had  arrested  him  at 
daybreak  should  have  left  a  guard  in  charge, 
but  the  plain  truth  was  that  the  Cartagena 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  47 

men  had  been  so  anxious  to  take  part  in  the 
stirring  doings  anticipated  at  the  capital  that 
no  heed  was  given  to  this  flaw  in  the  pro- 
cedure. 

That  night,  however,  when  Maseden  met  Lo- 
pez at  the  rendezvous,  the  Spaniard's  account 
of  events  was  not  reassuring. 

Suarez  was  living,  and  not  very  badly  hurt, 
it  was  true;  but  every  man's  hand  seemed  to 
be  against  the  foreigner  who  had  tried  to  kill 
him.  Maseden  was  puzzled,  at  first,  by  this  ex- 
cess of  patriotism  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of 
Cartagena  and  San  Juan  generally. 

"What  do  they  think  has  become  of  me?"  he 
inquired. 

"They  argue,  senor,  that  you  have  ridden 
into  the  interior,  and  telegrams  have  been  sent 
to  all  the  inland  towns  ordering  your  instant 
arrest.  If  you  resist  you  are  to  be  shot  dead, 
and  a  reward  of  one  thousand  dollars  will  be 
paid  when  you  are  identified." 

"Do  they  pay  for  me  dead  only?" 

"They  offer  two  thousand  for  you  alive, 
senor." 

"Just  to  have  the  pleasure  of  potting  me  as 
per  schedule.  .  .  .  Any  fear  that  you  have  been 
followed  to-night,  old  friend?" 

"None,  senor.  The  soldiers  at  the  estancia 
believe  you  are  many  miles  away.  Moreover, 
I  have  put  good  wine  on  the  table." 


48  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"Who  is  in  charge  there?    Captain  Gomez?" 

"No,  senor,  a  stranger.  El  capitan  went  back 
to  Cartagena.  He  nearly  wept  when  he  saw  his 
boots.  You  had  split  them.'* 

"You  gave  the  consul  my  letter?" 

"I  dropped  it  in  his  box,  senor.  I  thought 
that  was  wiser." 

"So  it  was.  I  should  have  remembered  that. 
What  of  the  lady?" 

' '  The  lady  you  married,  senor  ? ' ' 

"Of  course.  You  wouldn't  have  me  inter- 
ested in  some  other  lady  on  my  wedding  day, 
you  old  reprobate?" 

The  half-breed  laughed  softly. 

"Even  that  wouldn't  be  so  strange  a  thing 
as  what  has  really  happened,  senor.  No  one 
knows  who  the  lady  is.  One  man,  a  distant 
cousin  of  mine,  told  me  he  heard  she  landed 
from  a  ship  only  late  last  night. ' ' 

"Great  Scott!"  muttered  Maseden  in  En- 
glish, "what  a  Sphinx-like  person!  She  must 
be  descended  from  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask." 
Then  he  went  on : 

"Didn't  your  cousin  know  where  she  was 
staying  in  Cartagena?  Surely  there  must  have 
been  a  good  deal  of  public  curiosity  about  her. 
Twenty  people  were  present  at  the  marriage. 
It  was  no  secret." 

"I  understand  that  she  had  gone  to  Senor 
Steinbaum's  house.  She  fainted  after  the  cere- 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  49 

mony,  my  cousin  said,  and  had  to  be  carried 
into  an  automobile,  but  he  knew  nothing  more." 

The  veiled  Madeleine  had  felt  the  strain, 
then !  Somehow  the  knowledge  of  her  collapse 
touched  a  chord  of  sentiment  in  Maseden's 
heart,  but  his  own  desperate  plight  effectually 
banished  all  other  considerations  at  the  mo- 
ment. 

True,  he  was  safe  for  the  night,  and  for 
many  days  to  come,  if  the  foreman's  fidelity  re- 
mained unshaken.  The  ranch  was  called  Los 
Andes  because  it  contained  a  chain  of  little  hills 
all  covered  with  valuable  timber,  among  which 
he  could  hide  without  real  difficulty. 

But  of  what  avail  this  precarious  lurking  on 
his  own  estate?  He  must  take  speedy  and  ef- 
fectual steps  to  get  clear  of  San  Juan  alto- 
gether until  such  time  as  he  could  secure  ade- 
quate protection,  and  have  his  case  thrashed 
out  by  a  tribunal  to  whose  decision  even  Enrico 
Suarez,  the  president  of  the  Eepublic,  must  bow. 

One  thing  was  quite  certain — never  again  <. 
could  he  settle  down  in  unmolested  possession 
of  his  property.    Though  the  shooting  of  Suarez 
was  an  unfortunate  necessity,  its  effect  would 
be  enduring  and  disastrous. 

He  had  thought  out  every  phase  of  the  prob- 
lem during  the  long,  hot  hours  beneath  the 
trees,  and  the  half-breed's  account  of  the  trend 
of  public  feeling  decided  his  adoption  of  the 


50  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

boldest  course  of  all.  He  would  go  to  Carta- 
gena, where  he  was  hardly  known,  save  to  a 
few  merchants  and  shopkeepers,  a  banker  and 
one  or  two  members  of  the  Consular  commu- 
nity, and  board  some  outward-bound  vessel. 

Fortunately,  he  had  plenty  of  money,  and, 
glory  be,  could  speak  both  Spanish  and  the  San 
Juan  patois  like  a  native.  If  his  luck  held,  he 
would  cheat  Suarez  yet. 

"Lopez,"  he  said,  after  a  long  pause,  "I  must 
leave  the  ranch  for  many  a  day,  probably  for- 
ever. If  I  stay  here  I'll  only  plunge  you  into 
trouble  and  get  myself  captured.  Now,  do  me 
one  last  service.  Have  you  any  clothes  belong- 
ing to  that  vaquero  nephew  of  yours  who  broke 
his  neck  in  a  race  last  Easter?" 

"I  have  his  overalls,  a  fiesta  jacket,  some 
shirts  and  a  sombrero,  senor." 

"Bring  them,  and  speedily.  I'll  give  you  a 
good  price." 

"They  are  yours  for  nothing,  senor." 

"I  don't  deal  on  those  terms,  Lopez.  Off 
with  you.  I'll  wait  here." 

"Anything  else,  senor?" 

"Yes.  I  was  nearly  forgetting.  Bring  his 
saddle,  too.  My  own  saddle  might  be  recog- 
nized. I  have  a  long  ride  before  me,  so  hurry. '  ' 

Within  half  an  hour  the  good-hearted  old 
foreman  was  richer  by  five  hundred  dollars, 
while  Maseden,  a  dashing  cowboy,  though  un- 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  51 

kempt  as  to  face  and  hands,  was  riding  across 
country  by  starlight. 

He  did  not  tell  Lopez  his  real  objective. 
There  was  no  need.  The  old  fellow  occasionally 
indulged  in  a  burst  of  dissipation,  and  if  his 
tongue  wagged  then  he  might  blurt  out  some 
boastful  phrase  which  would  bring  down  on 
him  the  merciless  wrath  of  the  authorities. 

At  dawn  the  fugitive  received  another  slice 
of  real  luck.  He  had  just  entered  a  main  road 
leading  from  San  Luis,  a  town  thirty  miles  from 
Cartagena,  when  he  came  upon  a  cowherd  sit- 
ting by  the  roadside  and  bemoaning  his  misfor- 
tunes. The  man  was  commissioned  to  drive 
some  cattle  to  a  sale-ring  in  the  city,  and  had 
scratched  an  ankle  rather  badly  while  whack- 
ing one  of  the  steers  out  of  a  bed  of  thorns. 

Such  an  incident  was  common  enough  in  his 
life,  but  on  this  occasion  either  the  thorn  was 
poisonous  or  some  foreign  matter  had  lodged 
in  the  wound,  because  the  limb  had  swollen 
greatly  and  was  so  painful  that  he  could  hardly 
walk. 

Maseden  played  the  Good  Samaritan.  He 
ascertained  the  drover's  name,  his  master's, 
and  the  address  of  the  salesman;  the  rest  was 
easy.  Helping  the  sufferer  into  a  wayside 
hovel,  he  promised  to  send  back  a  messenger 
later  with  an  official  receipt,  took  charge  of  the 
animals  himself,  and  reached  Cartagena  as 


52  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Ramon  Aliones,  the  accredited  representative 
of  a  San  Luis  rancher. 

The  sale-ring  was  near  the  harbor,  and  he 
mounted  a  man  on  his  own  broncho  to  deliver 
the  drover's  voucher  for  the  safe  arrival  of  the 
herd  at  its  destination.  He  asked  for,  and  ob- 
tained, a  duplicate,  which  he  kept.  This  same 
emissary  readily  disposed  of  the  horse  and  sad- 
dle at  a  ruinous  price  when  told  that  the  new- 
comer was  not  only  thirsty,  but  meant  to  see 
the  sights  of  the  capital. 

A  cheap  restaurant,  some  wineshops,  and  a 
vile  billiard  saloon  provided  shelter  for  the 
rest  of  the  day.  Before  night  fell,  Maseden 
had  ascertained  three  things :  He  was  supposed 
to  be  riding  hard  into  the  interior ;  the  lady  he 
had  married  was  really  a  stranger  and  was 
Steinbaum's  guest,  and  a  large  steamer,  the 
.Southern  Cross,  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
was  due  to  leave  port  at  midnight. 

She  should  have  sailed  some  hours  earlier, 
but  the  drastic  changes  in  the  marine  depart- 
ment entailed  by  the  day's  happenings  had  de- 
layed certain  formalities  connected  with  her 
manifests. 

"For  a  time,  senor,"  explained  the  ship's 
chandler  who  gave  him  this  latter  information, 
"no  one  would  sign  anything.  You  see,  a  name 
on  a  paper  would  prove  conclusively  which 
president  you  favored.  You  understand?" 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  53 

Maseden  understood  perfectly. 

"It  is  well  that  you  and  I,  senor,  have  no 
truck  with  these  presidents,  or  we  might  be  in 
trouble, ' '  he  laughed.  ' '  As  it  is,  another  bottle, 
and  to  the  devil  with  all  politicians ! ' ' 

Under  cover  of  the  darkness  the  American 
slipped  away  from  his  boon  companions,  now 
comfortably  drunk  at  his  expense.  Having 
no  luggage,  he  bought  a  second-hand  leather 
trunk  and  some  cheap  underclothing,  such  as  a 
muleteer  might  reasonably  possess.  He  also 
secured  the  repeating  rifle  and  cartridges  which 
he  had  left  in  a  restaurant,  and,  thus  reinforced, 
made  for  the  Plaza,  where  Cartagenians  of  both 
sexes  and  all  ages  were  gathered  to  enjoy  the 
cool  breeze  that  comes  from  the  Pacific  with 
sunset. 

From  that  point  he  knew  he  could  see  the 
Southern  Cross  lying  at  anchor  in  the  road- 
stead. She  was  there,  sure  enough,  nearly  a 
mile  out,  and  he  was  puzzling  his  wits  for  a  pre- 
text to  hire  a  boat  and  board  her  without  at- 
tracting notice  when  chance  solved  the  problem 
for  him. 

Two  men  passed.  They  were  talking  English, 
and  he  heard  one  addressing  the  other  by  name. 

4 'Tell  you  what,  Sturgess,"  the  speaker  was 
saying,  "I'd  be  hull  down  on  Cartagena  to- 
night if  the  skipper  would  only  bring  up  at  Val- 
paraiso. But  his  first  port  of  call  is  Buenos 


54  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Ayres,  and  I've  got  to  make  Valparaiso  before 
I  see  good  old  New  York  again,  so  here  I'm 
fixed  till  a  coasting  steamer  comes  along.  Great 
Caesar's  ghost,  I  wish  I  were  going  with  you!" 

The  second  man,  Sturgess,  was  carrying  a 
suitcase,  and  the  two  were  evidently  making  for 
a  short  pier  which  supplied  landing  places  for 
small  craft  at  various  stages  of  the  tide. 

Maseden  quickened  his  pace,  overtook  them, 
and  said  in  Spanish  that  he  wished  to  book  a 
passage  to  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  Southern 
Cross,  and,  if  the  Sefior  Americano  would  per- 
mit him  to  board  the  vessel  in  his  boat,  he 
(Maseden)  would  gladly  carry  the  bag  to  the 
pier. 

Sturgess  evidently  did  not  understand  Span- 
ish, and  asked  his  companion  to  interpret.  He 
laughed  on  hearing  the  queer  offer. 

1  'Guess  I  can  handle  the  grip  myself,  and  the 
gallant  vaquero  is  pretty  well  loaded  with  his 
own  outfit,"  he  said,  "but  he  is  welcome  to  a 
trip  on  my  catamaran,  if  it's  of  any  service." 

Maseden,  however,  insisted  on  giving  some 
return  for  the  favor,  and  secured  the  suitcase. 
Now,  if  any  sharp-eyed  watcher  on  the  pier  saw 
him,  he  would  pass  as  the  traveler's  servant. 

Within  half  an  hour  he  was  aboard  the  ship, 
and  had  bargained  for  a  spare  berth  in  the 
forecastle  with  the  crew.  He  would  be  com- 
pelled to  rough  it,  and  remain  as  dirty  and  dis- 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  55 

beveled  as  possible  until  tbe  sbip  reacbed 
Buenos  Ayres.  Obviously,  no  matter  what  bis 
personal  wrongs  migbt  be,  be  could  not  make 
tbe  captain  of  tbe  Southern  Cross  a  party  to  the 
escape  from  Cartagena  of  tbe  man  who  had 
nearly  succeeded  in  ridding  tbe  republic  of  its 
president. 

But  tbe  prospect  of  bard  fare  and  worse  ac- 
commodations did  not  trouble  him  at  all.  He 
bad  nearly  ten  thousand  dollars  in  his  pockets. 
If  the  note  sent  through  Lopez  to  the  American 
Consul  was  acted  on  promptly,  a  further  sum 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  lying  to  his  credit 
in  a  local  bank  was  now  in  safe  keeping. 

Really,  considering  that  he  had  been  so  near 
death  that  morning,  be  had  a  good  deal  to  be 
thankful  for  if  he  never  saw  Cartagena  or  the 
Los  Andes  ranch  again. 

As  for  the  marriage,  what  of  it?  A  knot 
so  easily  tied  could  be  untied  with  equal  readi- 
ness. He  hadn't  the  least  doubt  but  that  an 
American  court  of  law  would  declare  the  cere- 
mony illegal. 

At  any  rate,  be  could  jump  that  fence  when 
he  reached  it.  At  present,  in  sporting  phrase, 
be  was  going  strong  with  a  lot  in  hand. 

He  kept  well  out  of  sight  when  a  government 
launch  came  off,  and  a  port  official  boarded  the 
vessel. 

He  never  knew  what  a  narrow  escape  he  bad 


56  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

when  the  chief  steward  who  acted  as  purser, 
was  asked  if  any  new  addition  had  been  made 
to  the  passenger  list.  The  ship's  officer  was 
not  a  good  Spanish  scholar.  He  thought  the 
question  applied  to  the  cargo,  and  answered 
"no." 

Then,  after  a  wait  that  seemed  interminable, 
the  snorting  and  growling  of  a  steam  winch 
and  the  unwilling  rasp  of  the  anchor  chain 
chanted  a  symphonic  chorus  in  Maseden's  ears. 
Those  harsh  sounds  sang  of  freedom  and  life, 
of  golden  years  on  a  most  excellent  earth  in- 
stead of  an  eternity  in  the  grave.  He  came  on 
deck  to  watch  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  dwindle 
and  vanish  in  the  deep,  blue  glamour  of  a  per- 
fect tropical  night. 

He  was  standing  on  the  open  part  of  the 
main  deck,  close  to  the  fore  hold,  when  he 
heard  English  voices  from  the  promenade  deck 
high  above  his  head. 

A  man's  somewhat  querulous  accents 
reached  him  first. 

"Well,  at  this  time  two  days  ago,  I  little 
thought  I'd  be  on  a  steamer  going  south  to- 
night," said  the  speaker. 

There  was  no  answer,  though  it  was  evident 
that  the  petulant  philosopher  was  not  address- 
ing the  silent  air. 

"I  suppose  you  girls  are  still  mooning  about 
that  fellow  getting  away  from  the  Castle?" 


ADIOS,  SAN  JUAN  57 

grumbled  the  same  voice.  "I  tell  you  he  has  no 
earthly  chance  of  winning  clear.  Steinbaum 
will  see  to  that.  His  record  is  none  too  good, 
and  a  question  in  the  American  Senate  would 
just  about  finish  him,  even  in  San  Juan.  So 
Mr.  Philip  Alexander  Maseden  might  just  as 
well  have  been  shot  yesterday  morning  as  to- 
day or  to-morrow.  They're  hot  on  his  track 
now,  Steinbaum  told  me — 

"Eh?  Yes,  I  know  he  did  me  a  good  turn, 
but,  damn  it  all,  that  was  merely  because  he 
was  going  to  die,  not  because  he  was  a  first- 
rate  life  for  an  insurance  office.  It  was  no 
business  of  mine  that  he  and  Suarez  couldn't 
agree.  .  .  .  Oh,  let 's  go  to  our  cabins !  Tears 
always  put  my  nerves  on  a  raw  edge !  Anyone 
would  think  you  had  lost  a  real  husband  on 
your  wedding  day ! ' ' 

There  was  a  movement  of  shadowy  forms. 
Maseden  thought  he  could  distinguish  a 
'  woman's  white  hand  rest  for  an  instant  on  the 
ship's  rail.  Was  that  the  hand  he  thought  he 
would  remember  until  the  Day  of  Judgment? 
He  could  not  say. 

The  one  fact  that  lifted  itself  out  of  the 
welter  of  incoherent  fancies  whirling  in  his 
mind  was  an  almost  incontrovertible  one.  If 
his  ears  had  not  deceived  him,  he  and  his  un- 
known but  lawful  wife  were  fellow-passengers 
on  board  the  Southern  Cross! 


CHAPTER  IV 


A  SLIGHT  mist  hung  over  the  sea — sure  out- 
come of  the  tremendous  range  of  the  thermom- 
eter between  noon  and  midnight  in  a  tropical 
clime.  The  sky  was  cloudless,  and  the  stars 
clustered  in  myriads. 

Though  the  Southern  Hemisphere  falls  far 
short  of  the  glory  of  the  north  in  constellations 
of  the  first  magnitude,  the  extraordinary  clear- 
ness of  the  upper  air  near  the  equator  enhances 
the  stellar  display.  It  would  almost  seem  that 
nature  knows  she  may  veil  her  ample  splen- 
dors in  the  north,  but  must  make  the  most  of 
her  scantier  charms  in  the  south. 

Maseden,  swinging  on  his  heel  in  sheer  be- 
wilderment, suddenly  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  the  Southern  Cross,  hanging  low  above 
the  horizon.  Had  an  impossible  meteor  flamed 
forth  from  the  familiar  cluster  of  stars  and 
shot  in  awe-inspiring  flight  across  the  whole 
arc  of  the  heavens  northward  to  the  line,  it 
would  not  have  surprised  him  more  than  the 
discovery  that  his  "wife"  was  on  board  the 
ship. 

That  was  a  stupendous  fact  before  which  the 

58 


"FIND  THE  LADY"  59 

whirl  of  adventure  of  the  long  day  now  draw- 
ing to  a  close  subsided  into  calm  remote- 
ness. 

"Madeleine,"  the  woman  he  had  married, 
was  his  fellow-passenger!  He  would  surely 
see  her  many  times  during  the  voyage  to 
Buenos  Ayres !  He  would  hear  her  voice,  which 
he  could  not  fail  to  recognize. 

She,  on  her  part,  would  probably  identify 
him  at  the  first  glance.  How  would  she  handle 
an  extraordinary  situation?  Would  she  claim 
him  as  her  husband,  repudiate  him  scornfully, 
or  utterly  ignore  him!  He  could  not  even 
guess. 

There  was  no  telling  what  a  woman  would  do 
who  had  elected  to  marry  a  man  whom  she  had 
never  met,  whose  very  name,  in  all  likelihood, 
she  had  never  heard,  merely  because  he  hap- 
pened to  be  a  prisoner  condemned  to  speedy 
death. 

Yet  she  could  not  be  a  particularly  cold- 
blooded person.  She  had  wept  for  him,  had 
whispered  her  heartfelt  grief;  had  promised 
to  pray  for  and  think  of  him  always.  Even  the 
man  with  the  high-pitched  voice  of  a  hypo- 
chondriac— presumably,  from  the  manner  of  his 
address,  her  father — had  hinted  that  her  suffer- 
ing had  already  passed  the  bounds  set  for  one 
who,  to  serve  her  own  ends,  had  gone  through 
that  amazing  ceremony. 


60  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Maseden  did  not  actually  marshal  his 
thoughts  thus  clearly.  If  compelled  to  bend  his 
wits  to  the  task,  he  might  have  spoken  or  writ- 
ten in  such  wise.  But  an  active  brain  has  its 
own  haphazard  methods  of  weighing  a  new  and 
distracting  problem;  it  will  ask  and  answer  a 
dozen  startling  questions  simultaneously. 

In  the  midst  of  Maseden 's  strange  and  form- 
less imaginings  the  ship's  course  was  changed 
a  couple  of  points  to  the  southward,  and  the 
Southern  Cross  was  shut  out  of  sight  by  the 
forecastle  head.  Then,  and  not  until  then,  did 
the  coincidence  of  the  vessel's  name  with  that 
of  the  constellation  occur  to  his  bemused  wits. 

He  laughed  cheerfully. 

"By  gad!"  he  said,  "all  the  signs  of  the 
zodiac  must  have  clustered  about  my  horoscope 
on  this  15th  of  January.  "When  I  get  ashore 
I  must  find  an  astrologer  and  ask  him  to  ex- 
pound." 

The  sound  of  his  own  voice  brought  a  belated 
warning  to  Maseden  of  the  folly  he  had  com- 
mitted in  speaking  aloud. 

There  was  no  other  occupant  of  the  fore 
deck  at  the  moment.  A  lookout  man  in  the 
bows  could  not  possibly  have  overheard,  be- 
cause of  the  whistling  of  the  breeze  created  by 
the  ship's  momentum  and  the  plash  of  the 
curved  waves  set  up  by  the  cut-water,  and  it 


"FIND  THE  LADY''  61 

"was  highly  improbable  that  words  uttered  in  a 
conversational  tone  would  have  reached  the 
bridge. 

But  behind  him  rose  the  three  decks  of  the 
superstructure,  and  there  might  be  eavesdrop- 
pers on  the  promenade  deck  or  in  one  of  the 
two  dark  gangways  running  aft. 

He  glanced  over  his  shoulder  to  right  and 
left.  Apparently  he  had  escaped  this  time.  No 
matter  what  developments  took  place  in  the 
near  future,  he  was  by  no  means  anxious  as  yet 
to  reveal  his  nationality.  Each  hour  brought 
home,  more  and  more  forcibly,  the  misfortune 
of  the  chance  which  left  him  no  alternative  but 
the  shooting  of  Suarez  that  morning. 

The  act  was  absolutely  essential  to  his  own 
safety,  but  it  put  him  clearly  out  of  court.  At 
any  rate,  the  authorities  of  no  South  American 
state  would  listen  to  a  recital  of  his  earlier 
wrongs.  If,  as  was  highly  probable,  a  sensa- 
tional account  of  the  attempted  assassination 
of  the  new  president  had  been  tacked  on  to  the 
telegrams  announcing  the  coup  d'etat  in  San 
Juan,  and  he,  Maseden,  were  painted  as  a  des- 
perado of  mark,  it  might  even  be  feared  that 
the  settled  and  respectable  Argentine  Eepublic 
would  arrest  him  and  endeavor  to  send  him 
back  to  San  Juan  for  trial. 

Of  course,  the  United  States  Consul  in  Bue- 
nos Ayres  would  have  something  to  say  about 


62  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

it,  but  there  was  a  very  real  danger  of  consu- 
lar efforts  being  overruled.  No  matter  how 
distasteful  the  role,  Philip  Alexander  Maseden 
must  continue  to  masquerade  as  Ramon  All  ones, 
vaquero,  until  he  could  leave  the  ship  and  as- 
sume another  alias. 

It  was  soon  borne  in  on  him  how  narrow  was 
the  margin  which  still  separated  him  from  dis- 
aster. He  had  gone  to  his  berth,  an  unsavory 
hutch  next  to  a  larger  cabin  tenanted  by  deck- 
hands, when  the  door  was  thrust  wide  (he  had 
left  it  half  open  while  undressing,  there  being 
no  electric  switch  within)  and  a  lamp  flashed 
in  his  eyes. 

A  short,  stockily-built  man,  whom  Maseden 
rightly  took  for  the  captain,  stood  there,  ac- 
companied by  another  man,  seemingly  a  Span- 
ish steward. 

"Now,  then,"  came  the  gruff  question, 
"what's  this  I  hear  about  your  speaking  Eng- 
lish to  yourself?  Who  are  you?  What's  your 
name  ? ' ' 

Luckily,  Maseden  was  so  surprised  that  he 
did  not  answer.  The  swarthy  steward,  a  thin, 
lantern-jawed  person,  grinned.  Maseden  saw 
that  the  man  was  wearing  canvas  shoes  with 
india-rubber  soles,  and  guessed  the  truth  in- 
stantly. 

His  nerve  had  been  tested  many  times  that 
day;  nor  did  it  fail  him  now.  Gazing  blankly 


"FIND  THE  LADY'9  63 

at  the  captain,  he  said,  in  Spanish,  that  he  did 
not  understand. 

"Tell  him,  Alfonso,  that  you  heard  him 
speaking  English  a  few  minutes  since.  .  .  . 
Hi,  you!  Stop  that!  No  smoking  in  your 
berth." 

Maseden  was  rolling  a  cigarette  in  true  Span- 
ish style.  The  captain  was  obviously  suspi- 
cious, so  the  situation  called  for  a  touch  of 
stage  artistry. 

Alfonso  translated,  pricking  his  ears  for 
Maseden 's  reply.  But  he  hailed  from  the  east 
coast,  whereas  Maseden  used  the  patois  of  San 
Juan. 

"You  made  a  natural  mistake,  sefior,"  said 
the  American  easily.  "I  was  talking  to  the 
stars,  a  habit  of  mine  when  alone  on  the  pam- 
pas, and  their  names  would  sound  somewhat 
like  the  words  of  a  barbarous  tongue." 

"And  a  foolish  habit,  too!"  commented  the 
captain  when  he  heard  the  explanation.  "Do 
you  know  any  of  'em?"  and  he  glanced  up  at 
the  strip  of  sky  visible  from  where  he  stood. 

The  smiling  vaquero  stepped  out  on  to  the 
open  deck.  Oh,  yes,  all  the  chief  stars  were  old 
friends  of  his.  He  pointed  to  the  "Sea-ser- 
pent," the  "Crow,"  and  the  "Great  Dog,"  giv- 
ing the  Spanish  equivalents. 

The  steward,  of  course,  densely  ignorant  in 
such  things,  and  already  half  convinced  that  he 


64  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

had  blundered,  was  only  anxious  now  to  avoid 
being  rated  by  the  captain  for  having  gone  to 
him  with  a  cock-and-bull  story.  Somehow, 
Maseden  sensed  this  fact,  and  made  smooth 
the  path. 

"They  are  strange  names,"  he  said  with  a 
laugh,  "but  we  of  the  plains  often  have  to  find 
the  way  on  land  as  a  sailor  on  the  sea." 

"Has  he  any  papers?"  demanded  the  cap- 
tain, apparently  satisfied  that  the  passenger 
was  really  acquainted  with  the  chief  star- 
groups. 

Maseden  produced  that  thrice-fortunate  du- 
plicate of  the  receipt  for  cattle  brought  from  the 
San  Luis  ranch  to  Cartagena  by  Ramon  Aliones 
that  very  day.  The  captain  examined  it,  and 
turned  wrathfully  on  the  steward. 

"Be  off  to  the  devil!"  he  growled.  "Find 
some  other  job  than  bothering  me  with  your 
fool's  tales!" 

When  Alfonso  had  vanished,  he  added,  seem- 
ingly as  an  afterthought : 

"If  I  was  a  vaquero  with  a  dirty  face,  I 
wouldn't  worry  about  clean  finger-nails  or  wear 
silk  underclothing,  and  I'd  do  my  star-gazing 
in  dumb  show ! ' ' 

With  that  he,  too,  strode  away.  Undoubt- 
edly, the  captain  of  the  Southern  Cross  was  no 
fool. 

Five  minutes  later  the  silk  vest  and  pants 


"FIND  TEE  LADY'  65 

which  Maseden  had  not  troubled  to  change 
while  donning  the  gay  attire  of  old  Lopez's 
nephew,  went  into  the  Pacific  through  the  small 
port-hole  which  redeemed  the  cabin's  otherwise 
stuffy  atmosphere.  Happily  the  bunk,  though 
crude,  was  clean,  and  long  enough  to  hold  a  tall 
man. 

Maseden  fancied  he  would  lie  awake  for 
hours.  In  reality,  he  was  dead  tired,  and  slept 
the  sleep  of  sheer  exhaustion  until  wakened 
by  a  loud-voiced  intimation  that  all  crim- 
son-hued  Dagoes  must  rouse  themselves  if 
they  didn't  want  to  be  stirred  up  by  a  hose- 
pipe. 

Now,  if  there  was  one  thing  more  than  an- 
other that  Maseden  liked  when  on  board  ship, 
it  was  a  cold  salt-water  bath.  But  he  dared 
neither  take  a  bath  nor  wash  his  face.  Per- 
sonal cleanliness  is  not  a  marked  characteristic 
of  South  American  cowboys.  That  he  should 
display  close-cropped  hair  instead  of  an  abun- 
dance of  oiled  and  curly  tresses  was  a  fact  sing- 
ular enough  in  itself,  without  inviting  attention 
by  the  use  of  soap  and  water. 

Perforce,  he  remained  filthy.  The  captain's 
hint  was  very  much  to  the  point. 

The  Southern  Cross  was  not  a  regular  pas- 
senger boat.  Primarily  a  trader,  carrying  ni- 
trate or  grain  to  home  ports,  and  coal  thence 
to  various  points  on  the  southern  or  western 


66  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

seaboard  of  South  America,  she  was  equipped 
with  a  few  cabins,  about  a  dozen  all  told,  on  the 
upper  deck. 

The  so-called  second-class  accommodation 
was  several  degrees  worse  than  the  steerage  on 
a  crack  Atlantic  liner.  That  is  to  say,  the  hu- 
man freight  ranked  a  long  way  after  cargo. 
The  food  was  plentiful,  though  rough.  Even 
for  saloon  passengers  there  was  neither  stew- 
ardess nor  doctor. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  a  passenger  list  would 
be  an  absurdity.  The  chief  steward  acted  as 
purser,  and  knew  the  names  of  all  on  board 
after  five  minutes'  study  of  his  ledger.  Pas- 
sengers and  ship's  officers  soon  became  ac- 
quainted. Within  twenty-four  hours  Maseden 
had  ascertained  that  a  Mr.  James  Gray,  with 
his  two  daughters,  occupied  staterooms;  but, 
for  the  life  of  him,  he  could  not  learn  the  ladies' 
Christian  names. 

He  cudgeled  his  brains  to  try  and  remember 
whether  or  not  his  "wife"  had  signed  the  reg- 
ister as  Madeleine  Gray;  but  the  effort  failed 
completely.  He  knew  why,  for  the  best  of  rea- 
sons ;  yet  the  knowledge  did  not  render  failure 
less  tantalizing. 

It  is  one  thing  to  be  dazzled  by  the  prospect 
of  escape  from  the  seeming  certainty  of  death 
within  a  few  minutes,  but  quite  another  to  be 
on  the  same  ship  as  the  lady  you  have  married 


"FIND  THE  LADY"  67 

two  days  earlier,  yet  neither  know  her  name 
nor  be  positive  as  to  her  identity. 

This,  however,  was  literally  Maseden's  pre- 
dicament when  chance  favored  him  with  a  long, 
steady  look  at  the  Misses  Gray.  He  could  not 
be  mistaken,  because  there  were  no  other  ladies 
on  board. 

Thus  when  a  very  pretty  girl,  wearing  a 
muslin  dress  and  hat  of  Leghorn  straw,  ap- 
peared at  the  forward  rail  of  the  promenade 
deck  and  gazed  wistfully  out  over  the  sea,  Mase- 
den's  heart  fluttered  more  violently  than  he 
would  have  thought  possible  as  the  effect  of  a 
casual  glance  at  any  woman. 

So,  then,  this  fair,  slim  creature,  whose  un- 
heeding eyes  had  dwelt  on  him  for  a  fleeting 
second  ere  they  sought  the  horizon,  was  his 
wife!  It  was  an  extraordinary  notion;  fan- 
tastic, yet  not  wholly  unpleasing.  It  would  be 
rather  a  joke,  if  opportunity  offered,  to  flirt 
with  her.  He  had  never  flirted  with  any 
girl,  and  hardly  knew  how  to  begin;  but 
much  reading  had  taught  him  that  the  lady 
herself  might  prove  an  admirable  coach  if  so 
minded. 

Of  course,  there  was  room  for  error  in  one 
respect.  He  might  have  married  the  sister, 
who,  thus  far,  nearly  midday,  had  not  been  vis- 
ible during  daylight.  He  calculated  the  pros 
and  cons  of  the  situation.  If  his  "wife"  was 


68  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

feeling  the  strain  of  that  unnerving  experience 
in  the  great  hall  of  the  Castle  of  San  Juan,  she 
might  now  be  resting  in  her  stateroom.  But 
why  should  the  sister,  on  whose  shoulders,  one 
would  suppose,  sat  no  such  heavy  load  of  care, 
come  on  deck  alone  and  scan  the  blue  Pacific 
with  that  dreamy  air? 

Yes,  by  Jove,  this  really  must  be  his  wife! 
Somehow,  poetic  justice  demanded  that  she,  and 
not  her  sister,  should  meet  him  thus  uncon- 
sciously. 

In  covet  fashion  he  began  to  study  her.  The 
deck  on  which  she  stood  was  fully  twenty  feet 
above  him,  and  she  was  still  further  separated 
from  him  by  some  thirty  feet  of  the  fore  hatch, 
but  he  noted  that  her  eyes  were  of  the  Parma 
violet  tint  so  frequently  met  with  in  the  hero- 
ines of  fiction,  yet  all  too  seldom  seen  in  real 
life.  Being  a  mere  man,  he  was  not  aware  that 
blue  eyes  in  shadow  assume  that  exact  tint.  At 
any  rate,  as  eyes,  they  were  more  than  satisfac- 
tory. 

Her  nose  was  well  modeled,  with  broad,  flex- 
ible nostrils,  unfailing  sign  of  good  health  and 
an  equable  disposition.  Her  lips  were  prettily 
curved,  and  the  oval  face,  framed  in  a  cluster 
of  brown  hair,  was  poised  on  a  perfectly 
molded  neck.  She  owned  shapely  arms;  he 
had  already  had  occasion  to  admire  her  hands ; 
a  small,  neatly-shod  foot  was  visible  under  the 


"FIND  THE  LADY"  69 

lowest  rail  as  the  girl  leaned  on  her  elbows  in 
an  attitude  of  unstudied  grace. 

Altogether,  Mr.  Maseden  liked  the  looks  of 
Mrs.  Maseden! 

He  was  beginning  to  revel  in  sentiment  when 
the  edifice  of  seemingly  substantial  fact  so 
swiftly  constructed  by  a  fertile  imagination  was 
dissipated  into  space  by  hearing  a  voice — the 
voice,  he  was  sure — coming  from  some  unseen 
part  of  the  upper  deck. 

"Ah!  There  you  are,  Nina!"  it  said.  "I've 
been  looking  for  you  everywhere!  How  long 
have  you  been. here?" 

Nina!  So  this  fairy  was  only  the  sister. 
Maseden  smiled  grimly  behind  a  cloud  of  ciga- 
rette smoke  because  of  the  absurd  shock  which 
the  words  administered.  He  was  sharply  aware 
of  a  sense  of  disappointment,  a  feeling  so  far- 
fetched as  to  be  almost  ludicrous. 

What  in  the  world  did  it  matter  to  which  of 
these  two  he  was  married?  In  all  probability 
he  would  never  exchange  a  word  with  either, 
and  his  first  serious  business  on  reaching  a  civ- 
ilized country  would  be  to  get  rid  of  the  incu- 
bus with  which  a  set  of  phenomenal  circum- 
stances alone  had  saddled  him. 

At  last,  however,  he  would  really  see  his  wife, 
and  thus  end  one  phase  of  a  curious  entangle- 
ment. Nina  had  half  turned.  Evidently  she 
realized  that  Madeleine  meant  to  join  her. 


70  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Maseden  leaned  back  against  the  external  pan- 
eling of  his  cubby-hole  and  looked  aloft  now 
with  curiosity  at  once  quickened  and  undis- 
guised. 

But  he  was  fated  to  suffer  many  minor  shocks 
that  day.  Madeleine  appeared,  and  presented 
such  an  exact  replica  of  Nina  that,  at  first  sight, 
and  in  the  strong  shadows  cast  by  the  canvas 
screen  which  alone  rendered  that  portion  of 
the  deck  habitable  while  the  sun  was  up,  it  was 
practically  impossible  for  a  stranger  to  dif- 
ferentiate between  them. 

Maseden  discovered  later  that  Madeleine  was 
twenty-two  and  Nina  nearly  twenty-four;  but 
the  marked  resemblance  between  the  pair,  ac- 
centuated by  their  trick  of  dressing  alike,  led 
people  to  take  them  for  twins.  Moreover,  each 
so  admirably  duplicated  the  other  in  voice  and 
mannerisms  that  only  near  relatives  or  inti- 
mate friends  could  be  certain  which  was  speak- 
ing if  the  owner  of  the  voice  remained  invisible. 

For  a  little  while,  too,  Maseden 's  mind  was 
reduced  to  chaos  by  hearing  Nina  address  her 
sister  as  "Madge."  He  was  vouchsafed  the 
merest  glimpse  of  Madge's  face,  because,  after 
a  quick,  heedless  look  at  him  and  at  a  half-caste 
sailor  readjusting  the  hatches  covering  the 
fore  hold,  she  turned  her  back  to  the  rail  and 
said  something  that  Maseden  could  not  over- 
hear. 


"FIND  THE  LADY"  71 

A  man  joined  the  two  girls,  whereupon  Nina 
also  faced  aft.  The  newcomer,  standing  well 
away  under  the  screen,  could  not  be  seen  at  all, 
and  Maseden  thought  it  must  be  Mr.  Gray,  the 
querulous  person  whose  outspoken  utterances 
had  first  warned  Maseden  that  his  wife  was  on 
board. 

But  he  erred  again.  Some  comment  passed 
by  Nina  raised  a  laugh,  and  Maseden  recog- 
nized the  voice  of  Mr.  Sturgess,  whose  baggage 
he  had  carried  overnight. 

"I  guess  not!"  he  was  saying,  with  a  humor- 
ous stress  on  each  word.  "As  a  summer  re- 
sort, San  Juan  disagreed  with  my  complaint, 
Miss  Gray." 

"Have  you  been  ill,  then?"  came  the  natural 
query. 

"No,  but  I  might  have  been  had  I  remained 
there  too  long,"  was  the  answer.  "A  change 
of  president  in  one  of  these  small  republics  is 
like  a  bad  railroad  smash — you  never  know 
who'll  get  hurt.  I've  a  notion  that  Mr.  Gray 
must  have  felt  sort  of  relieved  when  he  brought 
you  two  young  ladies  safe  and  sound  aboard 
this  ship." 

"We  didn't  see  anything  specially  alarm- 
ing," said  Nina.  "Madge  went  out  twice  dur- 
ing the  day  with  Mr.  Steinbaum,  a  trader,  and 
the  streets  were  very  quiet,  she  thought." 

Madge!    Was  "Madge"  a  family  diminutive 


72  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

for  Madeleine?  Maseden  neither  knew  nor 
cared.  Nina's  harmless  chatter  had  told  him 
the  truth.  Madge  most  certainly  did  find  the 
streets  quiet,  if  the  story  brought  by  Lopez 
from  Cartagena  was  correct;  namely,  that  she 
had  been  carried  out  of  the  Castle  in  a  dead 
faint. 

And  now  the  heartless  creature  was  actually 
laughing ! 

"One  cannot  take  a  South  American  revolu- 
tion quite  seriously — it  always  has  something 
comical  about  it,"  she  cried,  and  it  was  as- 
tounding how  closely  the  one  sister's  voice  re- 
sembled the  other's.  "I  understand  that  some 
poor  people  were  shot  the  night  before  last,  but 
I  saw  a  man  who  keeps  a  restaurant  opposite 
Mr.  Steinbaum's  house  produce  a  device  with 
flags  and  a  scroll.  On  the  scroll  was  painted 
'Long  Live  Valdez.'  He  drew  some  fresh  let- 
ters over  the  first  part  of  the  name,  dabbed  on 
plenty  of  black  and  white  paint,  and  the  new 
legend  ran  'Long  Live  Suarez.'  The  whole 
thing  was  done,  and  the  flags  were  out,  in  less 
than  five  minutes." 

Sturgess  evidently  asked  for  and  obtained 
permission  to  smoke.  He  came  to  the  rail.  Both 
girls  faced  forward  again,  and  Maseden  was 
free  to  compare  them. 

Madge,  or  Madeleine,  as  he  preferred  to  style 
her,  seemed  to  be  a  trifle  paler  than  Nina. 


"FIND  THE  LADY"  73 

Otherwise,  her  likeness  to  her  sister  was  al- 
most uncanny,  if  that  ill-omened  word  might 
be  applied  to  two  remarkably  pretty  girls. 
Neither  of  the  girls  wore  gloves,  but  Maseden 
looked  in  vain  for  the  heavy  gold  wedding-ring 
which  Steinbaum's  thoroughness  had  supplied 
when  wanted. 

At  that  moment  an  officer  appeared  on  the 
main  deck.  The  fore  hold  had  to  be  opened,  it 
seemed.  A  quartermaster,  summoned  from 
the  forecastle,  hoisted  a  block  and  tackle  to  a 
derrick.  The  noise  effectually  drowned  the  talk 
of  the  trio  on  the  upper  deck  until  the  tackle 
was  rigged,  and  a  couple  of  hatches  were  re- 
moved. The  half-caste  sailor  was  about  to  de- 
scend into  the  hold  just  as  Sturgess  's  somewhat 
staccato  accents  reached  Maseden  clearly  again. 

1  'Say,  did  you  ladies  hear  of  the  American 
who  was  to  be  shot  early  yesterday  morning? 
A  most  thrilling  yarn  was  spun  by  a  friend  of 
mine  who  knows  Cartagena  from  A  to  Z.  He 
said — " 

Maseden  was  on  the  alert  to  detect  the  slight- 
est variation  of  expression  on  Madeleine's  face. 
She  bent  forward,  her  hands  tightly  clutching 
the  rail,  and  darted  a  piteous  under  look  at  her 
sister.  Thus  it  happened  that  Maseden  alone 
was  gazing  upward,  and  he  saw,  out  of  the  tail 
of  his  eye,  the  heavy  block  detaching  itself  from 
the  derrick  and  falling  straight  on  top  of  the 


74 

sailor,  who  had  a  leg  over  the  coaming  of  the 
hatch  and  a  foot  on  the  first  rung  of  the  iron 
ladder  leading  down  into  the  hold. 

With  a  quickness  born  of  many  a  tussle  with 
a  bucking  broncho,  Maseden  leaped,  caught  the 
rope  held  by  the  quartermaster,  and  jerked  it 
violently.  The  block  missed  the  half-caste  by  a 
few  inches,  and  clanged  in  the  hold  far  beneath. 

The  tenth  part  of  a  second  decided  whether 
the  sailor  should  be  dashed  headlong  into  the 
depths  or  left  wholly  unscathed.  As  it  was,  he 
and  every  onlooker  realized  that  the  rakish- 
looking  vaquero  had  saved  his  life. 

In  the  impulsive  way  of  his  race,  the  man 
darted  forward,  threw  his  arms  around  Mase- 
den's  neck,  and  kissed  him.  To  his  very  great 
surprise,  his  rescuer  thrust  him  off,  and  said 
angrily : 

"Don't  be  such  a  damn  fool!" 

An  exclamation,  almost  a  slight  scream,  came 
from  the  upper  deck.  Maseden  knew  in  an  in- 
stant that  this  time  he  had  blundered  beyond 
repair.  Madeleine  had  heard  his  voice,  and  had 
recognized  him.  Moreover,  the  officer,  the  quar- 
termaster, even  the.  grateful  Spaniard,  were 
eyeing  him  with  unmixed  amazement. 

The  fat  was  in  the  fire  this  time !  In  another 
moment  would  come  denunciation  and  arrest, 
and  then — back  to  the  firing  squad!  What 
should  he  do? 


CHAPTER  V 

BOMANCE    KECEIVES    A    COLD    DOUCHE 

BUT  none  of  these  thoughts  showed  in  Mase- 
den's  face.  He  laughed  easily  and  explained 
in  voluble  Spanish  that  he  swore  in  English 
occasionally,  having  picked  up  the  correct  for- 
mula from  an  American  senor  with  whom  he 
once  took  a  hunting  trip  into  the  interior. 

The  sailor,  hearing  this  flow  of  a  language  he 
understood,  and  not  able  to  measure  the  idio- 
matic fluency  of  Maseden's  English,  accepted 
the  story  without  demur,  but  the  fourth  officer 
and  quartermaster,  both  Americans,  were  evi- 
dently puzzled. 

He  soon  got  rid  of  the  too-effusive  half-caste, 
and  retired  to  his  berth.  Thank  goodness,  since 
the  one  person  on  board  mainly  concerned  was 
perforce  aware  of  his  identity,  he  was  free  to 
wash  his  face  and  take  a  bath !  To  oblige  a  lady 
he  would  have  remained  unwashed  all  the  way 
to  Buenos  Ayres;  now,  every  other  considera- 
tion might  go  hang. 

Finding  a  steward,  he  gave  further  cause,  for 
bewilderment  by  asking  to  be  allowed  to  use  a 
bath-room. 

75 


76 

Greatly  to  Maseden's  relief,  his  lapse  into 
the  vernacular  seemed  to  evoke  little  or  no  com- 
ment subsequently.  The  captain  heard  of  it, 
but  was  far  too  irritated  by  the  faulty  behavior 
of  a  ring-bolt  (examination  showed  a  bad  flaw 
in  the  metal)  to  pay  any  special  heed.  As  for 
the  half-caste  sailor,  his  gratitude  to  Maseden 
took  the  form  of  describing  him  admiringly  as 
"the  vaguer o  who  could  swear  like  an  A^eri- 
cano,"  an  equivocal  compliment  which  actually 
fostered  the  belief  that  Maseden  was  what  he 
represented  himself  to  be — a  vagabond  cowboy 
migrating  from  one  coast  of  the  great  South 
American  continent  to  the  other. 

His  peculiar  habits,  therefore,  shown  in  such 
trivial  details  as  a  desire  for  personal  cleanli- 
ness and  a  certain  fastidiousness  at  table,  were 
attributed  to  the  same  exotic  tutelage.  Of 
course,  when  he  spoke  any  intelligent  Spaniard 
could  have  detected  faults  in  phrase  or  pronun- 
ciation, but  he  had  a  ready  resource  in  the 
patois  of  San  Juan,  and  no  man  on  board  was 
competent  to  assess  him  accurately  by  both 
standards. 

He  settled  down  quickly  to  the  exigencies  of 
life  at  sea.  Five  days  after  leaving  Cartagena 
he  was  an  expert  in  the  matter  of  keeping  his 
feet  when  the  vessel  was  rolling  or  pitching,  or 
performing  a  corkscrew  movement  which  com- 
bined the  worst  features  of  each. 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  71 

When  the  Southern  Cross  entered  more 
southerly  latitudes  her  passengers  were  given 
ample  opportunity  to  test  their  skill  in  this  re- 
spect. The  weather  grew  colder  each  day,  and 
with  the  drop  in  the  thermometer  came  gray 
skies  and  rough  seas. 

There  are  two  tracks  for  ocean-going  steam- 
ers bound  down  the  west  coast.  The  open  Pa- 
cific offers  no  hindrance  to  safe  navigation,  ex- 
cept an  occasional  heavy  gale.  The  inner 
course,  through  Smyth's  Channel,  is  sheltered 
but  tortuous,  and  the  commander  of  the  South- 
ern Cross  elected  to  save  time  by  heading  direct 
for  the  Straits  of  Tierra  del  Fuego.  The  ship 
was  speedy  and  well-found.  A  stiff  nor 'wester 
tended  rather  to  help  her  along,  and  she  should 
reach  Buenos  Ayres  within  fifteen  days. 

Maseden  contrived  to  buy  a  heavy  poncho,  OE 
cloak,  from  one  of  the  crew.  Wrapped  in  this 
useful  garment,  he  patrolled  the  small  space 
of  deck  at  his  disposal,  and  kept  an  unfailing 
eye  for  the  reappearance  at  the  for'ard  rail  of 
one  or  other  of  the  Misses  Gray;  yet  day  after 
day  slipped  by  and  they  remained  obstinately 
hidden. 

Once  or  twice,  when  the  weather  permitted, 
he  climbed  to  the  fore  deck,  whence  he  could 
scan  a  large  part  of  the  promenade  deck  on 
both  the  port  and  starboard  sides.  On  the  port 
side,  however,  a  wind-screen  intervened. 


78  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Twice  he  thought  he  saw  Madeleine  Gray 
leaning  on  the  port  rail,  talking  to  Sturgess— 
and  wearing  the  very  dress  in  which  she  was 
married !  Either  by  accident  or  design  she  van- 
ished almost  instantly  on  each  occasion. 

It  was  nonsensical,  of  course,  but  he  began 
to  harbor  a  sentiment  of  annoyance  with  Stur- 
gess, who,  by  some  queer  contriving  of  fortune, 
seemed  to  be  drawn  rather  to  the  company  of 
Madeleine  than  of  sister  Nina.  Any  real  feel- 
ing of  jealousy  would  have  been  absurd,  almost 
ludicrous,  under  the  circumstances. 

For  all  that,  Maseden  couldn't  understand 
why  the  fellow  apparently  devoted  himself  to 
the  company  of  one  sister  to  the  neglect,  or  in- 
tentional exclusion,  of  the  other;  while  the 
lady's  behavior,  assuming  that  she  knew  of  the 
presence  of  her  "husband"  within  a  few  yards, 
was,  to  say  the  least,  reprehensible  if  not  provo- 
cative. 

By  this  time,  Maseden  was  fully  convinced 
that  his  wife  had  recognized  him.  Oddly  enough, 
the  somewhat  bizarre  costume  he  wore  would 
help  in  betraying  him  to  her  eyes.  She  had  seen 
him  only  when  arrayed  in  even  more  startling 
guise.  Her  memory  of  him,  therefore,  would 
depend  wholly  on  his  features  and  physique, 
and  the  incongruity  of  an  unmistakably  Ameri- 
can voice  coming  from  a  vaquero  could  not  fail 
to  be  enhanced  by  the  gala  attire  affected  by 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  79 

that  erstwhile  gay  spark,  old  Lopez's  nephew. 

Moreover,  Maseden  had  bribed  the  forecastle 
steward  to  find  out  from  one  of  the  saloon  at- 
tendants what  had  happened  to  the  two  ladies 
on  the  promenade  deck  when  the  pulley  fell. 
One  of  them,  the  man  said,  was  so  startled  that 
she  nearly  fainted,  and  the  American  senor  had 
carried  her  to  a  chair. 

Obviously,  on  an  American  vessel,  with 
American  officers,  engineers,  and  quartermas- 
ters, for  one  whose  only  tongue  was  Spanish 
it  was  difficult  to  extract  information.  The 
Spanish-speaking  members  of  the  crew  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  the  passengers,  while  Mase- 
den's  part  of  the  ship  was  as  completely  shut 
off  from  the  saloon  as  are  the  dwellings  of  the 
poor  from  the  palaces  of  the  rich. 

Many  times  was  he  tempted  to  change  his 
quarters,  and  thus  tacitly  admit  his  identity; 
but  cold  prudence  as  often  forbade  any  such 
folly.  Even  if  the  full  extent  of  his  adventures 
in  Cartagena  were  unknown  on  board,  it  was  a 
quite  certain  thing  that  the  story  must  have 
reached  Buenos  Ayres  long  ago. 

Bad  as  was  the  odor  of  the  republic  in  the 
outer  world,  it  still  possessed  the  rights  of  a 
sovereign  state,  and  the  last  thing  Maseden  de- 
sired was  an  enforced  return  to  the  Castle  of 
San  Juan,  there  to  stand  his  trial  anew  for  con- 
spiracy, plus  an  undoubted  attempt  to  murder 


80  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  president!  That  would  be  a  stiff  price  to 
pay  merely  in  order  to  sate  his  curiosity  as  to 
the  motive  underlying  a  woman's  strange  whim. 

On  the  sixth  night  of  the  voyage  the  opportu- 
nity for  which  he  was  looking  was  offered  as 
unexpectedly  as  it  had  been  persistently  with- 
held earlier. 

After  a  very  unpleasant  day  of  wind  and  rain 
the  weather  improved  markedly.  True,  the  sky 
had  not  cleared,  and  the  darkness  which  fell 
swiftly  over  a  leaden  sea  was  of  a  quality  al- 
most palpable. 

Had  he  troubled  to  recall  the  sealore  gleaned 
from  many  books  of  travel,  Maseden  would  have 
known  that  such  a  change  was  by  no  means  in- 
dicative of  smoother  seas  and  days  of  sunshine 
in  the  near  future.  The  ship  was  merely  cross- 
ing the  center  of  a  cyclonic  area.  Ere  morning 
she  would  probably  meet  a  fiercer  gale  than 
that  through  which  she  had  just  passed. 

Such  minor  considerations  as  to  the  state 
of  the  elements  carried  little  weight,  however, 
when  contrasted  with  the  immediate  and  solid 
fact  that  Maseden,  giving  an  upward  eye  to  the 
promenade  deck  about  nine  o'clock,  discerned 
a  solitary  female  figure  leaning  on  the  rail. 

Since  there  were  no  other  women  on  board, 
this  must  be  either  Madeleine  or  Nina.  As  it 
happened,  the  forecastle  was  deserted,  in  the 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  81 

sense  that  its  usual  occupants  were  either  asleep 
or  busied  with  the  duties  of  the  hour.  Above 
the  girl's  head  paced  the  officer  of  the  watch. 
Up  in  the  bows  were  two  men  on  the  look-out. 
Otherwise,  the  fore  part  of  the  ship  was  un- 
tenanted  save  for  Maseden  himself  and  the 
slim,  cloaked  form  which  seemed  to  be  peering 
aimlessly  into  the  impenetrable  wall  of  dark- 
ness ahead. 

Apparently  the  wind  had  died  down.  There 
were  no  sounds  save  the  normal  ones — the  on- 
ward rush  of  the  ship,  the  swish  of  an  occa- 
sional swell  cleft  by  the  cutwater,  the  steady 
thud  of  the  screw,  and  the  equally  regular  creak- 
ing of  planks  and  panels  swollen  by  heavy  rain 
after  undergoing  tropical  heat. 

It  was  a  night  rich  with  suggestion  of  mys- 
tery and  romance.  Some  new  ichor  stirred  in 
Maseden 's  veins,  firing  his  spirit  to  emprise. 
Come  what  might,  he  resolved  to  have  speech 
with  the  lady,  be  she  wife  in  name  or  merely 
sister-in-law ! 

But  how  contrive  it?  If  he  hailed  her  from 
the  main  deck,  the  officer  on  the  bridge  would 
overhear,  and  straightway  play  a  domineering 
hand  in  the  game.  If  he  went  aft,  through  a 
narrow  gangway  leading  past  the  engine-room 
and  various  officers'  cabins,  he  could  reach  a 
sliding  door  giving  access  to  the  saloon  com- 
panion, but  his  presence  there  would 


82  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

edly  be  noticed,  evoking  a  stern  order  to  betake 
himself  to  his  own  quarters. 

The  third  method  was  the  direct  one.  A 
series  of  iron  rungs  led  vertically  up  the  face 
of  the  superstructure,  and,  as  sailors  occasion- 
ally passed  that  way,  the  girl  would  not  neces- 
sarily be  alarmed  by  seeing  a  man  coming  up. 

The  officer  on  duty  might  detect  him,  of 
course;  but  even  he  was  liable  to  mistake  him 
for  one  of  the  ship's  company. 

It  has  been  seen  already  that  Maseden  was  of 
the  rare  order  of  mankind  which,  having  once 
made  up  its  mind,  acts  unhesitatingly.  No 
sooner  had  he  elected  for  the  iron  ladder  than 
he  had  crossed  the  deck  and  was  mounting  rap- 
idly. It  chanced  that  the  officer  did  not  see 
him. 

In  a  few  seconds  he  was  standing  on  the 
promenade  deck.  Then  he  had  an  attack  of 
stage-fright.  Many  an  actor  has  strode  val- 
iantly from  wings  to  footlights  only  to  find  his 
tongue  glued  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth.  This 
was  Maseden 's  "star  turn,"  and  not  a  word 
could  he  utter ! 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  lady  was 
equally  nervous.  She  gave  scant  attention  to 
the  commonplace  occurrence  that  a  member  of 
the  crew  should  walk  aft  from  the  dim  interior 
of  the  forecastle  and  hurry  up  the  ladder,  but 
the  situation  altered  dramatically  when  a  faint 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  83 

gleam  from  a  window  of  the  smoking-room  fell 
on  the  tarnished  silver  braid  and  gilt  buttons 
of  Maseden's  jacket  of  black  cloth  and  velvet. 

The  light,  such  as  it  was,  fell  directly  on  the 
girl's  face  as  she  turned  towards  the  intruder. 
Her  eyes,  blue  sapphires  by  day,  were  now 
strangely  dark.  Maseden  saw  that  her  expres- 
sion was  one  of  panic  if  not  of  actual  terror. 
He  was  unpleasantly  reminded  of  a  bird  fasci- 
nated by  a  snake ;  the  displeasing  simile  stirred 
his  wits  and  unlocked  his  tongue. 

"I'm  sorry  if  I  have  frightened  you,"  he 
said  quietly,  "but  the  chance  of  securing  a  few 
words  of  explanation  seemed  too  good  to  be 
lost.  You  owe  me  something  of  the  kind,  don't 
you?" 

"Why?"  came  the  truly  feminine  reply. 

"Because,  unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  you 
are  the  lady  whom  I  had  the  honor  of  marrying 
in  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  at  Cartagena.  You 
may  be  known  as  Miss  Madge  Gray  on  board 
this  ship,  but  your  name  in  the  register  was 
Madeleine." 

"My  name  is  Nina,  not  Madge." 

Maseden  was  taken  aback  for  a  few  seconds, 
yet  the  fact  could  not  be  gainsaid  that  the 
speaker,  whether  Madge  or  Nina,  did  not  repu- 
diate the  general  accuracy  of  his  statement. 
Moreover,  he  was  almost  sure  of  his  ground 
now.  His  "wife"  was  probably  flirting  with 


84  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Sturgess.  Nina,  as  usual,  was  left  to  her  own 
devices,  since  the  forecastle  steward  had  re- 
ported that  Senor  Gray  was  ill  and  confined 
to  his  cabin. 

"At  any  rate,  you  do  not  deny  that  either 
your  sister  or  yourself  is  legally  entitled  to 
pose  as  Mrs.  Philip  Alexander  Maseden?"  he 
said. 

"I  am  not  aware  that  either  of  us  can  fairly 
be  described  as  posing  in  that  distinguished 
capacity." 

The  retort  was  glib  enough.  It  amused  the 
man. 

"Perhaps  I  put  the  bald  truth  rather  awk- 
wardly," he  said.  "Let  me,  then,  ask  a  plain 
question.  Did  I  marry  you,  or  your  sister,  last 
Tuesday  morning?" 

"You  certainly  err  if  you  think  that  I 
shall  discuss  the  affairs  of  my  family  with 
a  complete  stranger,"  was  the  unhesitating 
answer. 

"Yet  you,  or  your  sister,  did  not  scruple  to 
marry  one." 

"Are  you  Mr.  Maseden?" 

"I  am.  Haven't  I  said  so!  I  implied  it,  at 
any  rate." 

"Then  why  are  you  in  disguise,  posing — it 
is  your  own  word — as  a  Spanish  cowboy?" 

"Because  I'm  trying  to  save  my  miserable 
life.  Don't  think  me  ungrateful,  madam.  I  owe 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  85 

my  escape  to  the  phenomenal  circumstances 
brought  about  by  the  desire  of  a  charming 
young  lady  to  become  Mrs.  Maseden,  if  only  for 
a  brief  half  hour.  I  am  not  claiming  any — 
privileges,  shall  I  say! — on  that  account.  But 
I  can  hardly  credit  that,  having  gone  through 
the  ordeal  of  such  a  ceremony,  you  would  re- 
fuse to  tell  me  your  motive,  so  I  reluctantly  re- 
vert to  my  first  opinion,  namely,  that  your  sis- 
ter is  my  wife." 

< '  Eeluctantly !    Why  reluctantly  I ' ' 

There  was  more  than  a  touch  of  bewilder- 
ment in  the  cry.  Maseden  interpreted  it  as  a 
fencer's  trick  to  gain  time.  • 

"I  don't  mind  being  absolutely  candid,"  he 
laughed.  "You  see,  time  hangs  heavy  on  my 
hands  here.  I  have  nothing  to  do  except  watch 
for  a  glimpse  of  an  unknown  wife.  Queer,  isn't 
it!  Anyhow,  my  fate  doesn't  seem  to  worry 
sister  Madge,  who  finds  consolation  elsewhere ; 
so,  of  the  two,  if  I  must  be  wed  to  one  of  you, 
I  imagine  I  would  prefer  you." 

' '  I  think  you  are  intolerably  rude,  Mr.  Mase- 
den. Madge  was  right  when  she  said — " 

She  checked  herself  with  a  little  gasp  of  dis- 
may. Maseden  laughed  again. 

"Please  don't  spare  me,"  he  cried.  "What 
did  Madge  say?" 

"I  decline  to  discuss  the  matter  any  further." 

"But  why  should  we  quarrel  over  a  minor 


86  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

point?  You  have  tacitly  admitted  that  your 
sister  married  me.  Give  me  some  notion  of  her 
motive.  That  is  all  I  ask.  It  may  help. ' ' 

"How  help?" 

"When  I  take  unto  myself  a  wife  I  expect 
to  be  allowed  some  freedom  of  choice  in  the 
matter.  I  certainly  refuse  to  have  her  picked 
for  me  by  a  rascal  like  Steinbaum.  If  I  win 
clear  of  Buenos  Ayres  and  reach  New  York 
I  shall  take  the  speediest  steps  to  undo  the  mat- 
rimonial knot  tied  in  Cartagena.  There  may 
be  legal  complications,  which  will  be  attended, 
I  suppose,  by  a  certain  amount  of  publicity.  It 
will  help  some,  as  Mr.  Sturgess  would  say,  if  I 
know  just  why  the  lady  wanted  to  wed  in  the 
first  instance.  Surely  there  is  reason  behind 
that  simple  request.  Your  sister  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  marry  me  because  I  was  condemned 
to  death.  At  least,  such  was  Steinbaum 's  story. 
Was  that  true,  to  begin  with?" 

No  answer.  Maseden  felt  that  he  had  cor- 
nered her. 

*  *  There  must  have  been  some  such  ground  for 
an  extraordinary  action,"  he  went  on.  ' '  To  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  she  had  never  seen  me. 
I  question  if  she  even  knew  my  name.  I— 

A  door  opened,  and  a  stream  of  light  fell  on 
the  deck  some  feet  away.  Sturgess 's  voice 
reached  them  clearly. 

"Guess  she's  tucked  up  cozy  in  a  deck  chair," 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  87 

he  was  saying.  "It's  no  time  to  retire  to  roost 
yet,  anyhow." 

"Please  go  now,"  whispered  Nina  tremu- 
lously. "You  mustn't  be  seen  talking  to  me. 
I — I'll  discuss  things  with  Madge,  and  if  possi- 
ble, come  here  about  the  same  hour  to-morrow, 
or  next  day.  I — I'll  do  my  best." 

Without  another  word,  Maseden  swung  him- 
self over  the  rail.  When  below  the  level  of  the 
deck  he  clung  to  the  ladder  and  listened,  not 
meaning  to  act  ungenerously,  but  because  of 
the  other  man's  rapid  approach. 

"Ah,  there  you  are,  Miss  Nina!"  cried  Stur- 
gess.  ' '  Sister  Madge  is  bored  stiff  by  my  com- 
pany, but  was  polite  enough  to  pretend  that  she 
was  anxious  about  you. ' ' 

"I've  been  star-gazing,"  said  the  girl,  has- 
tening towards  him. 

"So've  I,'"  grinned  Sturgess.  "You  two 
girls  have  the  finest  eyes  I've  ever — " 

His  voice  trailed  away  into  silence.  Mase- 
den dropped  to  the  deck. 

"Hang  it  all!"  he  muttered,  strangely  dis- 
consolate. "When  Fate  took  me  by  the  scruff 
of  the  neck  and  married  me  to  one  of  two  sis- 
ters, neither  of  whom  I  had  ever  seen,  she  might 
have  been  kind  enough,  the  jade,  to  tie  me  to 
the  right  one ! ' ' 

Yet,  even  to  his  thinking,  Madge  and  Nina 
were  like  as  a  couple  of  pins!  Being  an  emi- 


88  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

nently  sensible  sort  of  fellow,  he  realized  in  the 
next  breath  that  Madge  might  be  quite  as  nice 
a  girl  as  Nina. 

Then  the  thought  struck  him  that  she  was 
purposely  making  things  easier  for  him  by  cul- 
tivating a  friendship  with  Sturgess.  In  any 
case,  Sturgess  was  obviously  destined  to  act  as 
a  pawn  in  the  game.  Even  he,  Maseden,  had 
not  scrupled  to  use  that  gentleman  at  sight  when 
anxious  to  board  the  Southern  Cross  without 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  news-mongering 
boatmen  of  Cartagena. 

That  night  he  lay  awake  for  hours.  For  one 
thing,  the  ship  was  running  into  bad  weather 
again,  and  complained  nosily  of  the  buffeting 
her  stout  frame  was  receiving.  For  another, 
his  own  course  was  beset  with  difficulties.  He 
failed  completely  to  understand  the  attitude  of 
sister  Nina. 

If  Madeleine — or  Madge,  as  he  had  better 
learned  to  distinguish  her — had  sought  mar- 
riage with  a  man  about  to  die  as  a  means  to 
escape  from  some  unbearable  duress,  was  her 
plight  accentuated  rather  than  bettered  by  the 
fact  that  her  husband  still  lived?  If  so,  the 
announcement  that  he  meant  to  obtain  a  legal 
dissolution  of  the  bond  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment  would  relieve  the  tension. 

But  what  if  her  need  demanded  that  she 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  89 

should  remain  wed,  a  wife  in  name  only?  A 
development  of  that  sort  foreshadowed  com- 
plexities of  a  rare  order.  Maseden  knew  him- 
self as  one  capable  of  Quixotic  action — even  the 
scheming  Steinbaum  had  paid  him  that  tribute 
—but  it  was  asking  too  much  that  he  should  go 
through  life  burdened  with  a  wife  who  treated 
him  as  a  benevolent  stranger. 

Common  sense  urged  that  they  should  meet 
and  discuss  a  most  trying  and  equivocal  situa- 
tion as  frankly  and  fully  as  might  be.  Why, 
then,  had  Nina  Gray  been  so  disturbed,  so  anx- 
ious to  keep  the  married  pair  apart?  Both  girls 
knew  he  was  alive.  What  purpose  could  it  serve 
that  the  fact  should  be  ignored? 

He  puzzled  his  brain  to  recall  incidents  Jie 
had  heard  of  Steinbaum 's  history,  but  investi- 
gation along  that  line  drew  a  blank.  Was 
Suarez  mixed  up  in  the  embroglio  ?  It  was  un- 
likely. Though  the  man  had  spent  some  years 
in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe,  he  had  not 
left  San  Juan  since  he,  Maseden,  came  there, 
and,  before  that  period,  both  Madge  and  Nina 
Gray  must  have  been  girls  in  short  frocks  and 
long  tresses. 

Perhaps  the  father's  record  would  provide  a 
clew.  Somehow,  though  he  had  never  set  eyes 
on  Mr.  Gray  save  as  a  shadowy  form  on  a  dark 
night,  Maseden  sensed  him  as  unsympathetic. 
He  was  forced  to  form  a  judgment  on  the  flim- 


90 

siest  of  material,  having  none  other;  but  Gray's 
voice,  his  way  of  speaking  to  his  daughters, 
had  grated. 

First  impressions  are  treacherous  guides; 
nevertheless  the  philosopher  whom  they  cannot 
mislead  does  not  exist. 

The  following  day  was  the  longest  in  Mase- 
den's  experience.  Monotony,  in  itself,  is  weary- 
ing ;  when,  to  a  dull  routine  of  meals  and  occa- 
sional talk  with  men  of  an  inferior  type  is 
added  the  positive  discomfort  of  confinement  in 
the  most  exposed  and  cramped  part  of  a  ship 
during  a  stiff  gale,  monotony  becomes  akin  to 
torture. 

At  last,  however,  night  fell.  There  was  no 
improvement  in  the  weather,  which,  if  any- 
thing, grew  worse;  but  a  change  in  the  ship's 
course,  or  a  shifting  of  the  wind — no  one  to 
whom  Maseden  might  speak  could  give  him  any 
reliable  data  on  the  point — brought  the  South- 
ern Cross  on  a  more  even  keel. 

Here,  at  least,  was  some  slight  compensation 
for  the  leaden-footed  hours  of  waiting.  Nina 
Gray  might  be  a  good  sailor,  but  it  was  hardly 
reasonable  to  expect  that  she  would  keep  her 
tryst  when  the  big  steamer  was  trying  alter- 
nately to  stand  on  end  or  roll  bodily  over  to 
port. 

About  nine  o'clock  Maseden  made  out  a 
shrouded  figure  in  the  position  where  his  "sis- 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  91 

ter-in-law"  had  stood  the  previous  night.  He 
hastened  from  the  shelter  of  the  forecastle,  and 
was  promptly  drenched  from  head  to  foot  by 
a  shower  of  spray.  He  was  half-way  up  the 
ladder  when  a  voice  reached  him. 

"Please  go  back,"  it  said.  "I'll  come  to  the 
gangway  on  the  starboard  side." 

He  regained  the  deck,  made  for  the  right- 
hand  gangway,  and  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  the  girl  walking  swiftly  along  the  dimly- 
lighted  corridor. 

He  hardly  knew  how  to  greet  her.  To  bid  her 
"Good  evening,"  or  murmur  some  platitude 
about  her  goodness  in  keeping  the  appointment 
in  such  vile  weather,  would  have  sounded  banal. 

The  lady,  however,  when  they  came  face  to 
face,  settled  all  doubts  on  the  question  of  eti- 
quette by  saying  breathlessly : 

"I  have  had  a  long  talk  with  my  sister,  Mr. 
Maseden,  and  she  bids  me  tell  you  that  she  can- 
not meet  you  herself.  You  were  so  generous, 
so  kind  to  her,  at  a  moment  when  your  thoughts 
might  well  have  been  centered  in  your  own  ter- 
rible fate,  that  she  cannot  bear  the  ordeal  of 
asking  you  the  last  favor  of  forgetting  her. 

"Of  course,  every  facility  will  be  given  for 
the  dissolution  of  the  marriage.  I  have  written 
here  the  address  of  a  firm  of  lawyers  in  Phila- 
delphia who  will  act  with  your  legal  representa- 
tives when  the  matter  comes  before  the  courts. 


92  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

For  your  own  purposes,  I  understand,  you  wish 
to  remain  unknown  while  on  board  this  ship. 
We  have  arranged  to  travel  to  New  York  by  the 
first  American  liner  sailing  from  Buenos  Ayres 
after  our  arrival.  Perhaps  you  will  be  good 
enough  to  choose  another  vessel,  or,  if  your  af- 
fairs are  urgent,  we  would  wait  for  a  later  one. 
Can  you  let  me  know  your  wishes  now  in  that 
matter?" 

Maseden  was  so  astonished  that  he  literally 
caught  the  girl  by  the  shoulder  and  turned  her 
partly  round  so  that  the  light  of  a  distant  lamp 
fell  on  her  face.  The  buffeting  of  the  gale, 
aided,  no  doubt,  by  a  feeling  of  excitement,  had 
lent  her  a  fine  color,  but,  if  her  utterance  was  a 
trifle  broken  at  first,  it  had  soon  become  calm 
and  measured,  nor  did  she  seem  to  resent  his 
cavalier  treatment. 

"Are  you  joking?"  he  said,  smiling  in  sheer 
perplexity. 

"I  fail  to  find  any  humor  in  my  words," 
came  the  instant  reply. 

"Quite  so.  They  might  have  been  framed 
by  a  lawyer.  Isn't  there  a  ghost  of  a  joke  in 
that  mere  fact?" 

"It  appeared  to  my  sister,  and  I  fully  agree 
with  her,  that  we  are  suggesting  the  best  way, 
the  only  way,  out  of  an  embarrassing 
dilemma." 

"Yes,"   agreed   Maseden,   drawing  a   long^ 


A  COLD  DOUCHE  93 

breath.  "I  agree  to  all  the  terms;  I  insist  only 
on  priority  of  sailing  from  Buenos  Ayres.  I 
don't  see  why  I  should  risk  my  life  just  to  save 
you  a  trifling  inconvenience. " 

"Then  here  is  the  address  I  spoke  of,"  and 
she  proffered  an  envelope. 

"Good.  We'll  leave  the  rest  to  the  law,  Miss 
Nina." 

"Thank  you.    Good-by." 

She  would  have  passed  him,  but  he  was  on  the 
after  side  of  the  gangway,  and  his  outstretched 
hand  restrained  her. 

"One  moment,  please,"  he  said.  "I  want 
you  to  tell  your  sister  that  she  has  thoroughly 
— disillusioned  me. ' ' 

"I'll  do  that,"  she  assured  him,  and  he  could 
not  help  but  regard  her  airy  self-possession  as 
the  most  surprising  factor  in  a  remarkable  sit- 
uation. 

"And  you,  too,"  he  went  on.  "Something 
has  happened  to  you  since  last  night.  Some- 
how you  are — harder.  Forgive  me  if  I  choose 
unpleasant  adjectives." 

She  hesitated  before  replying.  Perhaps  she 
felt  the  quiet  scorn  underlying  the  words. 

"Where  my  unhappy  family  is  concerned,  the 
forgiveness  must  come  wholly  from  you,"  she 
said  at  last.  "May  I  go  now,  Mr.  Maseden? 
Once  more,  thank  you  for  all  that  you  have 
done  and  will  do.  Eemember,  when  this  miser- 


94  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

able  affair  reaches  the  newspapers,  it  is  not 
your  reputation  that  will  suffer,  but  the 
woman 's ! " 

She  left  him  gazing  blankly  after  her.  There 
was  a  tense  vibrato  in  the  tone  of  the  girl's 
voice  that  touched  some  responsive  chord  in 
the  man's  breast. 

Then  he  became  aware  that  he  was  soaked  to 
the  skin,  and  the  wind  was  piercingly  cold. 

He  murmured  a  phrase  strongly  reminiscent 
of  the  Americano  who  took  hunting  trips  into 
the  interior  of  Central  America,  and  hurried  to 
his  cabin,  where  he  stripped  and  rubbed  his 
limbs  to  a  glow  before  turning  in. 


CHAPTER   VI 

AN    TJXFORESEEX    DISASTER 

DURING  the  night  the  storm  developed  into 
that  elemental  chaos  which  the  landsman  exag- 
gerates into  a  hurricane  and  the  sailor  logs  as 
a  strong  northwesterly  gale.  Passage  along 
the  open  decks  of  the  Southern  Cross  became 
a  hazardous  undertaking,  an  experiment  just 
practicable  for  a  strong  man  clad  in  oilskins 
and  seaboots,  but  positively  dangerous  for  one 
unable  to  interpret  the  vagaries  of  a  ship  plung- 
ing through  a  heavy  sea.  A  broken  limb  or 
ugly  bruise  was  the  certain  penalty  of  an  in- 
cautious movement,  if,  indeed,  one  was  not 
swept  overboard. 

For  a  passenger — a  non-combatant,  so  to 
speak — the  only  certain  way  to  insure  physical 
safety  was  to  lie  prone  in  a  bunk,  with  a  hand 
ever  ready  to  seize  the  nearest  rail  when  an 
unusually  violent  lurch  tilted  the  vessel  to  an 
angle  of  forty-five  degrees  and  simultaneously 
drove  her  nose  into  a  veritable  mountain  of 
water. 

Maseden  contrived  to  sleep  fitfully  until  a 
thin  gray  light,  trickling  through  a  tiny  port 

95 


96  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

when  momentarily  free  of  wave-wash,  told  him 
that  another  day  had  dawned.  The  din  was  in- 
cessant. Inanimate  things  may  be  inarticulate 
to  human  ears,  but  they  speak  a  language  of 
their  own  on  such  occasions — an  inchoate 
tongue  made  up  of  banging  and  clattering,  of 
stunning  vibrations,  of  wind-shrieks,  of  the 
groaning  of  steel  framework,  riveted  plates,  and 
seasoned  timber. 

The  Southern  Cross  was  tackling  her  work 
with  stubborn  energy,  but  she  complained  of  its 
severity  in  every  fibre.  Ships,  like  men,  pre- 
fer easy  conditions,  and  growl  in  their  own  pe- 
culiar manner  when  compelled  to  wage  a  fierce 
and  continuous  fight  for  mere  existence. 

Of  course  a  sailor  never  permits  himself  to 
think  of  his  own  craft  in  such  wise.  "Dirty 
weather"  is  simply  an  unpleasant  episode  in 
the  routine  of  a  voyage.  He  regards  it  much 
as  the  average  city  man  views  wind  and  rain 
— displeasing  additions  to  life's  minor  worries, 
but  not  to  be  considered  as  affecting  the  daily 
task. 

In  a  modern,  well-found  steamship  such  nega- 
tive faith  is  fully  justified,  and  the  ship's  com- 
pany of  the  Southern  Cross  went  about  their 
several  duties  as  methodically  as  though  the 
vessel  were  roped  securely  alongside  a  pier  in 
the  North  Eiver. 

The  center  of  the  forecastle  held  a  roomy 


AN  UNFORESEEN  DISASTER       97 

compartment  in  which  meals  were  served  for 
the  crew,  and  Maseden  took  refuge  there  as 
soon  as  he  was  dressed.  He  obtained  an  early 
cup  of  coffee,  and  derived  some  comfort  from 
the  fact,  communicated  by  the  half-caste  sailor 
he  had  saved  from  the  falling  pulley,  that  about 
the  same  time  next  day  they  would  sight  the 
Evangelistas  light,  and  soon  thereafter  be  in 
the  landlocked  water  of  the  Straits  of  Ma- 
gellan. 

He  realized,  of  course,  that  sight  or  sound  of 
either  Madge  Gray  or  her  sister  was  hardly  to 
be  expected  during  the  next  twenty-four  hours. 
In  fact,  he  might  not  see  them  again  before 
Buenos  Ayres  was  reached. 

On  the  whole,  it  would  be  better  so,  he  de- 
cided. A  thrilling  and  most  dramatic  incident 
in  a  life  not  otherwise  noteworthy  for  its  vicis- 
situdes would  close  when  he  was  safe  on  board 
a  homeward-bound  mail  steamer.  After  that 
would  come  some  small  experience  of  a  court  of 
law. 

For  the  rest,  if  he  contrived  to  cheat  the 
newspapers  of  the  full  details,  he  would  act- 
ually risk  his  repute  as  a  veracious  citizen  if 
he  told  the  plain  truth  about  one  day's  history 
in  the  Republic  of  San  Juan. 

Once,  in  his  teens,  when  in  London  during  a 
never-to-be-forgotten  European  tour,  a  friend 
of  his  father's  pointed  out  a  small,  alert  man, 


98  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

dressed  in  gray  tweeds,  who  was  hailing  a  cab 
in  Pall  Mall,  and  said : 

"Look,  Alec!  That  is  Evans  of  the  Guides. 
I  met  him  five  years  ago  in  Lucknow,  and  even 
at  that  date  he  had  killed  his  sixty-first  tiger 
on  foot  and  alone.  He  never  shoots  stripes  any 
other  way.  He  says  it  isn't  quite  sporting  to 
tackle  the  brute  from  the  comparative  safety 
of  a  howdah  or  a  machan — a  platform  rigged  in 
a  tree,  you  know." 

Philip  Alexander  Maseden,  aged  sixteen, 
neither  knew  nor  cared  what  a  machan  was. 
His  faculties  were  absorbed  in  the  difficult  task 
of  reconciling  a  dapper  little  man  in  a  gray  suit, 
skipping  nimbly  into  a  cab  in  Pall  Mall,  with  a 
redoubtable  Nimrod  who  had  bagged  sixty-one 
tigers  after  tracking  them  into  their  jungles. 

And  that  was  the  record  of  five  years  earlier. 
Perhaps  in  the  meantime  the  bold  shikari  had 
added  dozens  to  the  total.  A  mighty  hunter, 
Evans,  but  hard  to  reconcile  with  his  environ- 
ment. 

Seated  in  the  wet,  creaking  cabin,  and  watch- 
ing through  a  window  which  opened  aft  the 
turmoil  of  seas  leaping  venomously  at  and  over 
the  stout  bulk  of  the  Southern  Cross,  Maseden 
thought  of  Evans  of  the  Guides,  and  his  cohort 
of  tiger-ghosts.  Yet  not  one  tiger  among  the 
lot  had  brought  Evans  so  near  death  as  he, 
Maseden,  was  when  Steinbaum  entered  his  cell 


on  that  fateful  morning,  and,  in  the  closest 
shave  Evans  was  ever  favored  with,  a  violent 
end  had  not  been  averted  by  stranger  means. 

How  would  the  story  of  "  Madeleine, " 
Suarez,  and  Captain  Gomez's  boots  sound  if 
told  in  a  cosy  corner  of  a  Fifth  Avenue  club? 

By  reason  of  his  position  in  the  fore  part  of 
the  vessel,  Maseden  could  survey  the  bridge, 
chart-house  and  some  part  of  the  promenade 
deck.  The  head  of  the  officer  on  watch  was  vis- 
ible above  the  canvas  screen  which  those  who 
go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  have  christened 
the  " devil-dodger. "  The  officer's  sou'wester 
was  tied  on  firmly,  and  the  placid  expression 
of  the  strong,  weather-stained  face  was  clearly 
discernible.  For  the  most  part,  he  looked 
straight  ahead,  with  an  occasional  glance  back, 
or  over  the  side  into  the  spume  and  froth 
churned  up  by  the  ship's  passage.  Once  in  a 
while  he  would  draw  away  from  the  screen  and 
compare  the  course  shown  by  the  compass  with 
that  steered  by  the  quartermaster  at  the 
wheel. 

For  lack  of  something  better  to  occupy  his 
mind,  Maseden  followed  each  movement  of  the 
man  on  the  bridge.  Thus,  singularly  enough, 
next  to  the  officer  himself,  and  possibly  a  look- 
out in  the  bows,  he  was  the  first  person  on 
board  to  become  aware  of  a  peril  which  sud- 
denly beset  the  Southern  Cross. 


100  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

What  that  peril  was  he  could  not  guess,  but 
he  saw  that  the  officer  was  shouting  instructions 
to  the  quartermaster,  and  in  the  same  instant 
the  clang  of  a  bell  showed  that  the  engine-room 
telegraph  was  in  use. 

Almost  immediately  the  ship's  speed  slack- 
ened, and  as  she  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  wind 
and  wave  the  clamor  of  her  struggle  sank  to 
comparative  silence. 

A  few  seconds  later  the  captain  appeared  on 
the  bridge.  He,  like  the  officer,  gave  particular 
heed  to  something  which  lay  straight  ahead. 
Evidently  he  approved  of  the  action  taken  by 
his  subordinate,  because,  as  well  as  Maseden 
could  judge,  he  stood  beside  the  telegraph,  with 
a  hand  on  the  lever,  but  made  no  further  altera- 
tion in  the  ship's  speed. 

Naturally  Maseden  wondered  what  had  hap- 
pened and  watched  closely  for  developments. 
In  better  weather  he  would  have  gone  outside, 
but  it  was  positively  dangerous  now  to  stand 
close  to  the  ship's  rail,  or,  indeed,  remain  on 
any  part  of  the  open  deck,  while  the  shadow  of 
an  attempt  on  his  part  to  climb  the  forecastle 
ladder  would  have  evoked  a  gruff  order  to  re- 
turn. 

Within  a  minute  or  less,  however,  he  made 
out  that  the  Southern  Cross  was  passing 
through  a  quantity  of  wreckage,  mostly  rough- 
hewn  timber.  Here  and  there  a  spar  would 


'AN  UNFORESEEN  DISASTER     101 

unexpectedly  thrust  its  tapering  point  high 
above  the  tawny  vortex  of  the  waves;  at  odd 
times  a  portion  of  a  bulkhead  and  fragments  of 
white-painted  panels  would  be  revealed  for  an 
instant.  Some  unfortunate  sailing  ship  had 
been  torn  to  shreds  by  the  gale,  and  the  steamer 
was  just  passing  through  that  section  of  the 
sea-plain  still  cumbered  by  her  fragments, 
though  the  tragedy  itself  had  probably  occurred 
many  a  mile  away  from  that  particular  point 
on  the  map. 

By  this  time  the  stopping  of  the  engines  had 
aroused  every  member  of  the  crew  not  on  watch. 
Some  of  the  men,  bleary-eyed  with  sleep,  gath- 
ered in  the  cabin,  and  their  comments  were  il- 
luminating. 

"Wind-jammer  gone  with  all  hands,"  said 
one  man,  after  a  critical  glance  at  the  flotsam  on 
both  sides  of  the  ship. 

( 'What  for  have  we  slowed  up?"  inquired 
another.  "The  old  man  ain't  thinkin'  of  low- 
erin'  a  boat,  is  he?" 

*  *  Lower  a  boat,  saphead,  in  a  sea  like  this ! ' ' 
scoffed  the  first  speaker. 

"Wouldn't  he  try  to  rescue  any  poor  sailor- 
men  who  may  be  clingin'  to  the  wreck?"  came 
the  retort. 

"As  though  any  sort  of  blisterin'  wreck  could 
live  in  this  weather!  Try  again,  Jimmy. 
We're  dodgin'  planks  an'  ropes;  that's  our 


102  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

special  stunt  just  now.  One  o'  them  hefty 
chunks  q '  lumber  would  knock  a  hole  in  us  below 
the  water-line  before  you  could  say  'knife'. 
An'  how  about  a  sail  an'  cordage  wrappin' 
themselves  lovin'ly  around  the  screw  I  Where 
'ud  we  be  then?  .  .  .  There  you  are.  What 
did  I  tell  you?" 

A  heavy  thud,  altogether  different  from  the 
blow  delivered  by  a  wave,  shook  the  Southern 
Cross  from  stem  to  stern.  The  captain  looked 
over  the  port  side,  and  followed  the  movement 
of  some  unseen  object  until  it  was  swept  well 
clear  of  the  ship.  The  engines,  which  had  been 
stopped  completely,  were  rung  on  to  "Slow 
ahead"  again.  They  remained  at  that  speed 
for  half  a  minute,  not  longer.  Then  they  were 
stopped  once  more,  and  the  officer  of  the  watch 
quitted  the  bridge  hurriedly. 

"What  the  devil's  the  matter  noiv?"  growled 
the  more  experienced  critic  anxiously.  "That 
punch  we  got  can't  of  started  a  plate,  or  all 
hands  would  'a '  bin  piped  on  deck ! ' ' 

Singularly  enough,  he  either  forgot  or  was 
afraid  to  voice  his  own  prediction  as  to  a  pos- 
sible alternative.  The  big  foremast  which  had 
struck  the  ship's  quarter  was  stout  enough, 
most  unluckily,  to  support  a  thin  wire  rope,  and 
this  unseen  assailant  had  fouled  the  propeller. 
In  all  likelihood,  had  the  captain  given  the  order 
"Full  speed  ahead,"  the  evil  thing  might 


AN  UNFORESEEN  DISASTER     103 

have  been  thrown  clear  before  mischief  was 
done. 

As  it  was,  the  very  care  with  which  the  South- 
ern Cross  was  navigated  led  to  her  undoing. 
With  each  slow  turn  of  the  screw  the  snake- 
like  rope  which  was  destined  to  choke  the  life 
out  of  a  gallant  ship  had  coiled  itself  into  a 
death  grip. 

Soon  some  of  the  strands  were  forced  be- 
tween propeller  and  shaft-casing.  The  solid 
steel  cylinder  of  the  shaft  became  fixed  as  in  a 
vise.  The  engines  were  powerless.  To  apply 
their  force  was  only  to  increase  the  resistance. 
They  could  not  be  driven  either  ahead  or 
astern. 

The  Southern  Cross  promptly  fell  away  to 
the  southeast  under  the  stress  of  wind  and  tide. 
After  her,  forming  a  sort  of  sea-anchor,  lolloped 
the  derelict  foremast  which,  by  its  buoyancy, 
was  the  first  cause  of  all  the  mischief. 

Mostly  it  was  towed  astern.  Sometimes  a 
giant  wave  would  snatch  it  up  and  drive  it 
like  a  battering  ram  against  the  ship's  coun- 
ter. 

These  blows  were  generally  harmless,  the 
rounded  butt  of  the  spar  glancing  off  from  the 
acute  angle  presented  by  the  molded  stern- 
plates.  Once  or  twice,  however,  the  rudder  was 
struck  squarely,  so  the  chief  officer,  aided  by 
some  of  the  men,  quickly  put  an  end  to  the  ca- 


104  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

pacity  of  this  novel  battering-ram  for  inflcting 
further  damage  by  lassoing  and  hauling  aboard 
the  whole  mass  of  wreckage — mast,  yards  and 
tattered  sails  alike. 

Then  a  gruesome  discovery  was  made.  Tied 
to  the  mast  was  the  corpse  of  a  man,  but  so 
bruised  and  battered  as  to  be  wholly  unrecog- 
nizable. The  poor  body,  nearly  naked,  and 
maimed  and  torn  almost  out  of  human  sem- 
blance, was  stitched  in  a  strip  of  wet  canvas, 
weighted  with  a  few  furnace  bars,  and  commit- 
ted to  the  deep  again  without  a  moment's  loss 
of  time. 

But  its  brief  presence  had  not  been  helpful. 
Singularly  enough,  sailors  are  not  only  fatalists, 
which  they  may  well  be,  but  superstitious.  No 
man  voiced  his  sentiments;  nevertheless,  each 
felt  in  his  heart  the  ship  was  doomed. 

Collectively,  they  would  try  to  save  the  ship. 
As  individuals,  the  paramount  question  now 
was — how  and  when  might  they  endeavor  to 
save  their  own  lives? 

Of  course  there  was  neither  any  sign  of  panic 
nor  shirking  of  orders.  The  ship  was  stanch 
and  eminently  sea-worthy.  She  was  actually 
far  more  comfortable  while  drifting  thus  help- 
lessly before  the  gale  than  when  battling 
through  it. 

Yet  every  sailor  on  board,  from  the  captain 
down  to  the  scullery-man,  knew  that  some  forty 


miles  ahead  lay  a  shore  so  forbidding  and  in- 
hospitable that  the  United  States  government 
charts — than  which  there  are  none  so  detailed 
and  up-to-date — give  navigators  the  significant 
warning  to  keep  well  out  to  sea,  as  the  coast- 
line has  not  been  surveyed  in  detail. 

Yet  the  case  was  not  immediately  desperate. 
Forty  miles  of  sea-room  was  better  than  none. 
If  the  gale  abated,  and  an  anchor  was  dropped, 
it  was  probable  that  the  engineers'  cold  chisels 
would  soon  cut  away  the  wire  octopus. 

Moreover,  there  was  a  chance  that  some 
other  steamer  might  pick  them  up  and  earn 
a  magnificent  salvage  by  a  tow  to  Punta 
Arenas. 

So  after  breakfast  the  uncanny  harbinger  of 
disaster  provided  by  the  body  of  the  drowned 
sailor  was,  if  not  forgotten,  at  least  generally 
ignored.  Pipes  were  lighted.  Men  not  other- 
wise occupied  gathered  in  groups,  while  every 
eye  strove  to  pierce  the  gray  haze  of  the  spin- 
drift whipped  off  the  waves  by  each  furious 
gust,  each  hoping  to  be  the  first  to  discover  the 
friendly  smoke-pall  of  a  passing  ship. 

Certain  ominous  preparations  were  made, 
however.  Boats  were  cleared  of  their  wrap- 
pings and  stocked  with  water  and  provisions. 
Life-belts  were  examined,  and  their  straps  ad- 
justed. 

As  the  day  wore,  and  noon  was  reached,  the 


106  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

chance  of  encountering  another  ship  became  in- 
creasingly remote.  Sea  and  wind  showed  no 
signs  of  falling.  Indeed,  a  slight  rise  in  the 
barometer  was  not  an  encouraging  token. 
" First  rise  after  low  foretells  stronger  blow" 
is  as  true  to-day  as  when  Admiral  Fitzroy  wrote 
his  weather-lore  doggerel,  and  the  principles  of 
meteorology  hold  good  equally  north  and  south 
of  the  equator. 

For  a  time  the  captain  tried  to  steady  the 
ship  with  the  canvas  fore-and-aft  sails  which 
big  steamships  use  occasionally  in  fine  weather 
to  help  the  rudder.  This  devise  certainly  got 
the  Southern  Cross  under  control  again,  and 
the  crew  were  vastly  astonished  when  bid  furl 
the  sails  after  half  an  hour. 

Surprise  ceased  when  some  of  them  got  an 
opportunity  to  squint  into  a  compass.  The 
wind  had  veered  from  northwest  to  a  point 
south  of  west. 

Only  a  miracle  could  save  the  ship  now.  It 
seemed  as  though  the  very  forces  of  nature  had 
conspired  to  bring  about  her  undoing. 

From  that  moment  a  gloom  fell  on  the  little 
community.  Men  muttered  brief  words,  or 
chatted  in  whispers.  A  few  paid  furtive  visits 
to  their  bunks,  and  rummaged  in  kit-bags  for 
some  treasured  curio  or  personal  belonging 
which  could  be  stowed  away  in  a  pocket.  It 
was  not  a  question  now  as  to  whether  the  South- 


AN  UNFORESEEN  DISASTER     107 

ern  Cross  would  survive,  but  when  and  where 
she  would  strike,  and  what  sort  of  fighting 
chance  would  be  given  of  reaching  a  bleak  shore 
alive. 

Every  one  knew  that  it  would  be  the  wildest 
folly  to  lower  a  boat  in  such  a  heavy  sea.  The 
sole  remaining  hope  was  that  the  ship  would 
escape  the  outer  fringe  of  reefs,  and  drive  into 
some  rock-bound  creek  where  the  boats  might 
live. 

By  means  of  a  properly  constructed  sea- 
anchor  the  captain  kept  the  vessel's  head  to- 
ward the  east.  Thus,  when  land  was  sighted,  if 
any  semblance  of  a  channel  offered,  it  might  be 
possible  to  steer  in  that  direction. 

Men  were  told  off  to  be  in  readiness  to  hoist 
the  sails  again  at  a  moment's  notice.  The 
anchors  were  cleared,  both  fore  and  aft.  Noth- 
ing else  could  be  done  but  watch  and  wait,  while 
the  great  ship  rolled  into  yawning  gulfs  or  slid 
down  huge  curves  of  yellow-gray  water,  rolled 
and  slid  ever  onward  to  sure  destruction. 

During  those  weary  hours,  so  slow  in  pass- 
ing, so  swift  in  succession  when  sped,  Maseden 
had  not  once  set  eyes  on  his  wife  or  her  sister. 
He  had  seen  Sturgess  talking  to  the  captain  and 
first  officer,  but  neither  of  the  ladies  appeared 
on  deck. 

Still  it  was  an  easy  thing  to  imagine  just 
what  was  going  on.  The  two  women  were  the 


108  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

only  persons  on  board  left  in  ignorance  of  the 
certain  fate  awaiting  the  Southern  Cross. 
They  were  told  the  half  truth  that  the  engines 
were  disabled,  but  that  the  vessel  was  in  no  im- 
mediate danger. 

It  was  better  so.  Of  what  avail  to  frighten 
them  needlessly?  The  ship  would  have  been  ab- 
solutely safe  if  the  gale  blew  from  the  east  in- 
stead of  the  west.  Even  now  she  might  sur- 
vive. Her  chances  were  of  the  slenderest 
nature,  but  there  would  be  ample  time  to  get  the 
women  into  an  upper  deck  saloon  or  the  chart- 
room  when  the  position  became  desperate. 
Why  embitter  the  few  hours  of  life  yet  remain- 
ing by  knowledge  of  the  dreadful  fate  which 
threatened  when  the  end  came  ? 

About  two  o'clock  an  undulating  blur  on  the 
eastern  horizon  told  of  land.  To  the  best  of 
the  captain's  judgment  the  Southern  Cross  was 
off  Hanover  Island  when  the  accident  happened, 
and  her  relative  longitude  had  altered  but  very 
slightly  during  the  forty-mile  drift.  It  was  now 
or  never  if  anything  was  to  be  done  to  save  her. 

The  forbidding  and  mountainous  coast-line 
straight  ahead  was  broken  up  by  all  manner  of 
deep-water  channels,  each  giving  access,  by 
devious  ways,  to  the  sheltered  Smyth's  Chan- 
nel; but  so  barricaded  by  sunken  reefs  and 
steep  islets  as  to  present  almost  insuperable  ob- 
stacles to  the  free  passage  of  a  large  vessel. 


AN  UNFORESEEN  DISASTER     109 

Small  whalers  and  guano-boats  would  not 
dare  any  of  these  straits  in  fine  weather.  For 
the  Southern  Cross  to  make  the  attempt,  even 
provided  she  ran  the  gantlet  of  the  barrier 
reef,  was  indeed  the  forlornest  of  forlorn 
hopes. 

The  chief  engineer  had  already  assured  the 
captain  many  times  that  any  further  pressure 
by  the  engines  would  inflict  irreparable  damage, 
so,  risking  everything  on  the  throw  of  the  dice 
and  wishful  to  know  the  worst,  at  any  rate,  be- 
fore daylight  vanished,  he  ordered  the  sails  to 
be  hoisted  again. 

All  hands  were  brought  on  deck,  life-belts 
were  adjusted,  and  boats'  crews  stood  by.  At 
that  moment  Maseden  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
two  girls.  They,  with  other  passengers,  were 
summoned  by  the  ship's  officers  and  placed  in 
the  smoke-room,  which,  by  reason  of  its  situa- 
tion beneath  the  bridge,  provided  a  convenient 
gathering  ground  in  case  the  boats  were  low- 
ered. 

He  saw  them  only  for  a  moment — two  cloaked 
figures,  wearing  cloth  caps  tied  tightly  to  their 
heads  with  motor-veils.  He  could  not  distin- 
guish Madge  from  Nina. 

It  was  a  strange  and  most  bizarre  notion  that 
when  the  gates  of  eternity  were  opening  a  sec- 
ond time  before  his  eyes  the  woman  who  was 
his  lawful  wife  should  now  be  sharing  his  peril,. 


110      .      HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

yet  be  separated  from  him  far  more  effectually 
than  in  the  Castle  of  San  Juan. 

The  incongruity  of  their  position  did  not 
trouble  him  greatly,  however.  Soon  he  ceased 
thinking  about  it.  He  realized  that  he,  as  an 
individual,  could  do  nothing  but  obey  orders 
and  abide  by  the  decree  of  Providence. 

He  was  not  frightened.  Some  hours  earlier, 
knowing  the  physical  features  of  the  western 
coast  of  South  America,  he  had  decided  that  the 
odds  were  a  thousand  to  one  against  the  escape 
of  the  ship  and  her  seventy-four  occupants. 
He  hoped  that  when  the  end  came  it  might  not 
be  a  long  drawn-out  agony — that  was  all.  For 
the  rest,  he  looked  forward  with  a  certain  spice 
of  curiosity  to  the  fight  which  captain  and 
crew  would  make  against  the  giant  forces  of 
nature. 

An  awesome  panorama  of  mighty  cliffs,  in- 
accessible islands  and  isolated  rocks  over  which 
"the  seas  dashed  with  extraordinary  fury,  was 
opening  up  with  ever-increasing  clearness.  A 
mist  of  driven  froth  and  spindrift  hung  low 
over  the  surface  of  the  water,  but  the  great  hills 
of  the  interior  were  distinctly  visible. 

Irregular  white  patches  near  their  summits 
marked  the  presence  of  huge  glaciers.  Lower 
down  the  valleys  were  choked  with  black 
masses  of  firs.  Countless  generations  of  trees 
liad  grown,  and  fallen,  and  rotted,  ultimately 


AN  UNFORESEEN  DISASTER     111 

forming  a  new,  if  unstable,  basis  for  more  re- 
cent growths. 

An  occasional  red  scar  down  a  hillside  re- 
vealed the  latest  landslide.  A  cascade  would 
leap  out  from  the  topmost  part  of  a  forest  and 
bury  itself  again  in  the  depths. 

These  outstanding  features  were  all  on  a  huge 
scale.  It  was  a  weird,  monstrous  land,  a  place 
utterly  unfitted  for  human  habitation,  a  part  of 
creation  quite  out  of  keeping  with  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Surveying  it  impartially,  one  might 
wonder  whether  it  had  traveled  far  in  advance 
of  the  general  scheme  of  things  or  lagged  mil- 
lions of  years  behind. 

But  its  aspect  was  sinister  and  forbidding  in 
the  extreme,  and  never  have  its  depressing 
characteristics  been  etched  in  darker  shadows 
than  when  viewed  that  January  day  from  the 
decks  of  the  ill-fated  Southern  Cross. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    WEECK 

UP  to  the  last  the  ship 's  path  was  dogged  by 
misfortune.  She  approached  Hanover  Island 
at  a  point  where  the  sea  was  comparatively 
open;  hence,  the  tremendous  waves  rolling  in 
from  the  Pacific  were  not  only  unchecked  by 
island  breakwaters,  but  their  volume  and  force 
were  actually  increased  by  the  gradual  upward 
trend  of  the  rock  floor. 

Still,  undaunted  by  conditions  which  sug- 
gested the  plight  of  a  doomed  craft  being  hur- 
ried to  the  lip  of  a  cataract,  keen  eyes  searched 
the  frowing  coast-line  for  one  of  the  many 
estuaries  which  pierced  the  land,  some  merely 
the  mouths  of  short-lived  rivers,  others  again 
carrying  the  ocean  currents  to  the  very  base  of 
the  Andes. 

At  last  an  opening  did  seem  to  present  itself. 
The  great  rock  walls,  springing  sheer  from  sea 
level  to  a  height  of  a  thousand  feet  or  more, 
fell  apart,  and,  so  far  as  might  be  judged,  a 
wide  and  deep  channel  flowed  inland. 

It  was  at  this  crisis,  when  life  or  death  for 
all  on  board  might  depend  on  the  veriest  trifle, 
that  the  captain  had  to  decide  whether  or  not  to 

112 


THE  WRECK  113 

let  go  both  anchors  and  endeavor  to  ride  out 
the  gale. 

He  was  an  experienced  and  cool-headed 
sailor.  He  knew  quite  well  that  the  odds  were 
heavy  against  an  anchor  holding  in  such 
ground,  or,  if  it  held,  against  any  cable  stand- 
ing the  strain  of  a  six-thousand-ton  ship  in  that 
terrific  sea.  But,  as  Maseden  learned  subse- 
quently, he  sought  advice. 

The  first  and  second  officers  were  consulted 
in  turn,  and  each  confirmed  their  chief's  opin- 
ion that  the  only  practicable  course  was  to  run 
into  the  passage  which  still  offered  a  compara- 
tively clear  way  ahead. 

So  the  Southern  Cross  sped  on. 

The  second  officer  came  forward  with  some  of 
the  crew  to  superintend  the  dropping  of  the 
anchor.  The  fourth  officer  took  charge  of  the 
aft  anchor.  All  other  members  of  the  crew 
stood  by  the  boats. 

Maseden,  feeling  oddly  remote  and  unclassed 
among  men  of  his  own  race,  followed  the  sec- 
ond officer  to  the  forecastle  deck.  There,  at 
least,  he  could  stare  his  fill  at  the  inferno  of 
rock  and  broken  water  which  the  vessel  was  ap- 
proaching, though  even  his  landsman's  eyes 
saw  that  she  was  in  a  water-way  of  considera- 
ble width,  while  each  mile  now  traversed  must 
tend  to  diminish  the  seas  and  bring  a  secure 
anchorage  within  the  bounds  of  possibility. 


114  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

No  one  paid  heed  to  him.  Among  these  stolid 
sailor-men  he  was  a  "Dago,"  a  somewhat  dan- 
dified specimen  of  the  swaggering  vaqueros 
they  had  met  at  times  in  the  drinking  dens  of 
South  American  ports.  He  was  minded  to  have 
speech  with  the  second  officer,  and  proclaim 
once  and  for  all  that  he  was  of  the  same  kith 
and  kin ;  but  the  impulse  was  stayed  by  a  glance 
at  the  set,  resolute  face,  intent  only  on  obeying 
a  signal  from  the  captain.  It  was  no  time  for 
confidences.  He  questioned  even  if  the  sailor 
would  have  answered. 

A  touch  on  a  lever  would  set  a  winch  spin- 
ning as  the  anchor  leaped  to  its  task.  The  man 
charged  with  carrying  out  that  duty  without 
hitch  or  delay  could  spare  thought  for  nothing 
else. 

One  of  the  deck-hands,  stationed  near  the 
chocks,  chanced  to  be  the  very  Spaniard  whose 
life  had  been  endangered  by  the  falling  block 
on  the  day  after  the  ship  left  Cartagena.  The 
ship's  carpenter  was  ill,  and  the  Spaniard  was 
carpenter's  mate. 

Maseden  caught  his  eye,  and  the  man  smiled 
wanly. 

"You  did  me  a  good  turn  the  other  day, 
serior,"  he  said.  "Let  me  repay  you  now." 

"But  how?"  came  the  surprised  inquiry. 

"Underneath  my  bunk,  the  lowest  one  on  the 
left  in  number  seven  berth,  you  will  find  my  kit- 


THE  WRECK  115 

bag.  Beneath  some  clothes  is  a  bottle  of  good 
old  brandy.  Get  it,  and  drink  it  quickly." 

"Why?" 

' '  You  will  put  a  pint  of  honest  liquor  to  good 
use,  and  in  ten  minutes  you  won't  care  what 
happens." 

"I  have  no  desire  to  die  drunk,"  said  Mas- 
eden  quietly. 

The  Spaniard  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"You'll  never  have  a  better  excuse  for  swal- 
lowing excellent  cognac,"  he  grinned. 

"Shut  up,  you  two!"  growled  the  officer. 

He  had  not  understood  a  word  of  their  talk. 
He  simply  voiced  the  eminently  American  no- 
tion that  anything  said  in  the  Spanish  language 
could  not  be  of  the  least  importance  just  then. 

Oddly  enough,  Maseden  was  angered  by  be- 
ing thus  outcasted,  as  it  were.  He  was  tempted 
to  retort,  but  happily  checked  the  words  on  his 
lips.  Nerves  were  apt  to  be  on  a  raw  edge  in 
such  conditions,  he  remembered.  Even  the 
stern-faced  ship's  officer,  awaiting  a  command 
which  would  settle  the  fate  of  the  Southern 
Cross  once  and  for  all,  might  well  resent  the 
magpie  chattering  of  a  couple 'of  Spaniards. 

Maseden  turned  for  an  instant  to  look  at  the 
bridge.  The  captain  stood  there,  apparently 
the  most  unmoved  person  on  board.  The  sails, 
tugging  fiercely  at  their  rings  and  bolts,  still 
kept  the  ship  under  control,  notwithstanding 


116  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  ten-knot  tidal  current  which  carried  her  on- 
ward irresistibly.  The  foresail  was  bellied  out 
to  port,  so  the  captain  remained  on  the  star- 
board side  of  the  bridge,  whence  he  had  an  un- 
interrupted view  ahead. 

Suddenly  two  cloaked  figures  emerged  from 
the  obscurity  of  the  smoking-room  and  hurried 
to  the  transverse  rail  which  guarded  the  fore 
part  of  the  promenade  deck.  With  them  came 
some  men,  among  whom  Maseden  recognized 
Sturgess;  while  another  man,  who  caught  the 
arm  of  one  of  the  girls  in  a  helpless  sort  of  way, 
was  probably  Mr.  Gray. 

Evidently  there  was  no  concealing  the  ship's 
peril  from  the  passengers  now.  Everyone  wore 
a  life-belt,  and  was  clothed  to  resist  the  cold. 
A  plausible  explanation  of  this  general  flocking 
out  on  to  the  deck  was  that  they  had  discerned 
the  cleft  in  the  rocky  heights  through  a  blurred 
window,  and  refused  to  remain  any  longer  in 
the  sheltered  uncertainty  of  the  smoking- 
room. 

At  this  period  there  was  little  or  no  difficulty 
in  keeping  one's  feet.  The  great  hull  of  the 
Southern  Cross  swung  easily  on  an  even  keel 
with  the  onrush  of  the  sea-river.  The  ship  was 
not  fighting  now,  but  yielding — a  complacent 
leviathan  held  captive  by  a  most  puissant  and 
ruthless  enemy. 

During  the  few  seconds  Maseden  stared  at 


THE  WRECK  117 

the  veiled  women.  One  of  those  two — which  one 
he  could  not  tell — was  his  wife.  It  was  the  mad- 
dest, most  fantastic  thing  he  had  ever  heard  of. 
In  a  spirit  of  sheer  deviltry  he  waved  a  greet- 
ing. One  of  the  girls  raised  a  hand  to  her  face 
—perhaps  to  her  lips. 

What  did  it  matter!  In  all  human  probabil- 
ity that  was  their  eternal  farewell.  He  waved 
again,  and  turned  resolutely  to  scan  the  frown- 
ing headlands  now  rapidly  closing  in  on  both 
sides  of  the  vessel's  path. 

About  that  time  a  new  and  disturbing  sound 
reached  his  ears.  Hitherto  there  had  been  noth- 
ing but  the  unceasing  chant  of  the  gale,  the  thud 
and  swish  of  the  seas,  the  steady  plaint  of  the 
ship,  and  an  occasional  crash  like  a  volley  of 
musketry  when  the  crest  was  torn  off  some 
giant  roller  and  flung  against  poop  or  super- 
structure. But  now  there  came  a  crashing, 
booming  noise,  irregular,  yet  almost  continu- 
ous, and  ever  growing  louder  and  more  in- 
sistent; a  noise  almost  exactly  similar  to  distant 
gun-fire  and  the  snarling  explosions  of  heavy 
projectiles. 

It  was  the  noise  of  the  bitterest  and  longest 
war  ever  waged.  Those  old  enemies,  sea  and 
land,  were  engaged  in  deadly  combat,  and,  as 
ever,  the  sea  was  winning. 

Even  while  the  Southern  Cross  swung  past 
an  overhanging  fortress  of  rock,  a  mighty  bas- 


118  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

tion  crumbled  into  ruin.  It  was  singular  to 
watch  a  cloud  of  dust  mingle  with  the  spindrift 
— to  note  how  the  next  breaker  climbed  higher 
in  assault  over  the  vantage  ground  provided  by 
the  successful  sap. 

A  disconcerting  feature  of  the  ship 's  hurried 
transit  into  this  unchartered  territory  was  the 
clearness  with  which  all  things  were  visible 
above  a  height  of  some  twelve  feet  from  the 
surface  of  the  sea;  whereas,  below  that  level, 
the  clouds  of  spray  and  flying  scud  formed  an 
almost  impenetrable  wall. 

Taking  his  eyes  from  the  everchanging  pan- 
orama, Maseden  looked  over  the  side.  The 
foam-flecked  water  was  black  but  fairly  trans- 
parent. In  its  depths  he  was  astounded  by  the 
sight  of  writhing,  sinister  shapes  like  the  arms 
of  innumerable  devil-fish. 

At  first  he  experienced  a  shock  of  surprise  so 
close  akin  to  horror  that  he  felt  the  chill  of  it, 
as  though  one  of  these  fearsome  tentacles  were 
already  twined  around  his  shrinking  body. 
Then  he  realized  that  he  had  been  startled  by 
some  gigantic  species  of  seaweed.  The  ship 
was  crossing  a  submarine  forest.  Down  there 
in  the  depths  on  this  January  day  in  the  south- 
ern hemisphere  some  mysterious  form  of  plant 
life  was  enjoying  its  leafy  June. 

But  science  had  no  joys  for  him  in  that  hour. 
Better  the  outlook  on  crag  and  clearing  sky  than 


THE  WRECK  119 

a  furtive  glimpse  of  the  limbs  and  foliage  of 
that  monstrous  growth. 

All  at  once  a  cry  from  the  look-out  in  the 
bows  sent  a  quiver  through  every  hearer. 

"Bock  ahead!" 

After  a  pause,  measured  by  seconds,  but 
seeming  like  as  many  minutes,  the  same  voice 
shouted : 

"Channel  opens  to  starboard!" 

The  ship  answered  the  helm.  She  swept  past 
a  jagged  little  islet  so  closely  that  a  sailor  could 
have  cast  a  coil  of  rope  ashore. 

Forthwith  another  sound  mingled  with  the 
crash  of  the  breakers.  The  rock  had  been  bored 
right  through  by  the  waves,  and  the  gale  set  up 
a  note  in  the  tunnel  such  as  no  organ-builder 
ever  dreamed  of. 

That  mighty  chord  pursued  the  Southern 
Cross  for  nearly  half  a  mile.  It  was  a  melan- 
choly and  depressing  wail.  Maseden,  whose 
faculties  were  supernaturally  alert,  noticed  that 
the  South  American  sailor's  face  had  turned  a 
sickly  green.  The  man  was  paralyzed  with 
fright.  His  right  hand  fumbled  in  a  weak  at- 
tempt to  cross  himself. 

Out  of  the  tail  of  his  eye  the  second  officer 
caught  the  gesture. 

"Pull  yourself  together,  you  swab!"  he  said 
bitingly.  "What  the  hell  good  will  you  be  if 
you  give  way  like  that?" 


120  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

The  Spaniard  grasped  the  sense  of  command 
in  the  words  rather  than  their  meaning.  He 
was  no  coward.  He  even  contrived  to  grin. 
It  was  a  tonic  to  be  cursed  by  an  American, 
even  though  the  pierced  rock  howled  like  a  lost 
soul! 

Still  the  Southern  Cross  drove  on.  The  tidal 
stream  was,  if  anything,  swifter  than  ever,  but 
the  size  of  the  waves  had  diminished  sensibly. 
The  walls  of  the  straits  had  closed  in  to  within 
a  half-mile  span.  There  could  not  be  the  slight- 
est doubt  that  the  vessel  was  actually  passing 
through  one  of  the  waterways  which  connect 
the  Pacific  with  Smyth's  Channel. 

Maseden,  after  scanning  the  interior  high- 
lands for  the  hundredth  time,  glanced  again  at 
the  second  officer.  The  grimness  of  the  clean- 
cut,  stern  face  had  somewhat  relaxed.  Quite 
unconsciously  the  sailor's  expression  showed 
that  hope  had  replaced  calm-visaged  despair. 
Given  an  unhindered  run  of  another  mile,  the 
ship  could  at  least  drop  anchor  with  some 
prospect  of  success. 

The  strength  of  the  tide  would  diminish  in 
less  than  an  hour,  and  it  might  be  possible  to 
maneuver  in  the  slack  water  for  a  compar- 
atively safe  berth.  Next  day,  if  the  weather 
moderated  as  promised  by  the  barometer,  the 
steam  pinnace  could  spy  out  the  land  in  front. 

Smyth's  Channel  was  not  so  far  away — per- 


THE  WRECK  121 

haps  fifty  miles.  Once  there,  the  Southern 
Cross  could  repair  damage  and  proceed  under 
her  own  steam  to  Punta  Arenas. 

A  gleam  of  yellow  light  irradiated  the  sur- 
face mist,  which  had  grown  markedly  denser. 
The  clouds  were  parting,  and  the  sun  was 
vouchsafing  some  thin  rays  from  the  northwest. 

The  mere  sight  was  cheering.  The  blood  ran 
warmer  in  the  veins.  It  was  as  though  the 
ship's  company,  after  days  and  nights  of  cold 
and  starvation,  had  been  miraculously  supplied 
with  food  and  hot  liquids. 

Then  the  golden  radiance  died  away,  and  sim- 
ultaneously came  the  cry: 

"Reef  ahead !" 

There  was  no  need  for  further  warning  by 
the  men  in  the  bows.  The  Southern  Cross  had 
hardly  traveled  her  own  length  before  every 
person  in  the  fore  part  of  the  ship,  together 
with  the  occupants  of  bridge  and  promenade 
deck,  became  aware  that  a  seemingly  impassa- 
ble barrier  lay  right  across  the  channel.  At  the 
same  time  the  line  of  cliffs  fell  away  to  the 
southward. 

Beyond  the  reef,  then,  lay  a  wide  stretch  of 
land-locked  water;  its  unexpected  existence  ex- 
plained the  frantic  haste  of  the  tidal  current. 
It  was  cruel  luck  that  nature  should  have 
thrown  one  of  her  defensive  works  across  that 
bottle-neck  entrance.  A  few  cables'  lengths 


122  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

away  was  safety;  here,  unavoidable — sullen 
and  rigid  as  death  himself — were  the  rock 
fangs. 

At  the  supreme  moment  the  second  officer 
never  turned  his  head.  His  eyes  were  riveted 
on  the  motionless  figure  standing  on  the  star- 
board side  of  the  bridge. 

The  captain  raised  his  hand;  the  sails 
flapped  loudly  in  the  wind;  both  anchors 
splashed  overboard  with  hoarse  rattling  of 
chains.  The  after  anchor  failed,  but  the  for- 
ward one  held  at  a  depth  of  ten  fathoms. 

The  second  officer  was  quick  to  note  the  sud- 
den strain,  and  eased  it — once,  twice,  three 
times.  But  it  was  now  or  never.  The  ship  was 
swinging  in  the  stream,  and  her  stern-post 
would  just  clear  the  fringe  of  the  reef  if  the 
anchor  made  good  its  grip. 

The  Southern  Cross  had  gone  round,  with  a 
heavy  lurch  to  port,  caused  by  the  tremendous 
pressure  of  wind  and  wave,  and  was  almost  sta- 
tionary when  the  cable  parted.  The  thick  chain 
flew  back  with  all  the  impetus  of  six  thousand 
tons  in  motion  behind  it. 

Missing  Maseden  by  a  hair's  breadth,  it 
struck  the  f oretop,  and  the  spar  snapped  like  a 
carrot.  It  fell  forward,  and  the  identical  block 
which  had  nearly  brought  about  the  death  of 
the  South  American  sailor  now  caught  his  res- 
cuer on  the  side  of  the  head. 


THE  WRECK  123 

In  the  same  instant  a  heavy  stay  dragged 
Maseden  bodily  over  the  fore-rail  and  he 
pitched  headlong  to  the  deck,  where,  however, 
the  actual  fall  was  broken  by  the  stout  canvas 
of  the  sail. 

A  woman  screamed,  but  he  could  not  hear, 
being  knocked  insensible. 

'  *  All  hands  amidships ! ' '  shouted  the  captain, 
and  there  was  a  race  for  the  ladders.  One  man, 
however,  the  Spaniard,  stooped  over  the  young 
American's  body.  His  eyes  were  streaming 
with  tears. 

"Good-by,  friend!'*  he  sobbed.  " Maybe 
this  is  a  better  way  than  that  opened  by  my 
bottle  of  brandy ! ' ' 

He  was  sure  that  the  vaquero  who  swore  like 
an  Americano  had  been  killed,  because  blood 
was  flowing  freely  from  a  scalp  wound ;  but  he 
lifted  Maseden 's  inert  form,  and,  without  any 
valid  reason  behind  the  action,  placed  him  in 
his  bunk,  as  the  cabin  door  stood  open. 

Then  he  ran  after  the  others. 

Poor  fellow !  He  little  dreamed  that  he  was 
repaying  a  thousand-fold  the  few  extra  days  of 
life  the  good-looking  vaquero  had  given  him. 

Almost  immediately  the  ship  struck.  There 
was  a  fearsome  crash  of  rending  plates  and 
torn  ribs,  the  great  vessel  reeled  over,  struck 
again  and  bumped  clear  of  the  outer  reef. 

Now,  too  late,  the  after  anchor  lodged  in  a 


124  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

sunken  crevice ;  the  cable  did  not  yield,  because 
the  vessel  was  sucked  into  a  sort  of  backwash 
and  driven,  bow  on,  close  to  an  apparently  un- 
scalable cliff. 

She  settled  rapidly.  As  it  happened  a  sub- 
merged rock  smashed  her  keel-plate  beneath  the 
engine-room,  and  the  engines,  together  with  the 
stout  frame-work  to  which  the  superstructure 
was  bolted  amidships,  became  anchored  there, 
offering  a  new  obstacle  to  the  onward  race  of 
the  seas  pouring  over  the  reef. 

Every  boat  was  either  smashed  instantane- 
ously or  wrenched  bodily  from  its  davits.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  hull  fell  away  almost  at  once,  the 
forecastle  tilting  towards  the  cliff,  and  the  poop 
being  swept  into  deep  water. 

With  the  after  part  went  at  least  half  the 
ship's  company,  their  last  cries  of  despair  be- 
ing smothered  by  the  continuous  roar  of  the 
wind  and  the  thunder  of  the  waves.  The  bridge, 
with  the  rooms  immediately  below,  remained 
fairly  upright,  but  the  smoking-room,  and  offi- 
cers' quarters  close  to  it,  were  swept  by  water 
breast  high. 

Some  one — who  it  was  will  never  be  known — 
had  ordered  the  passengers  to  run  into  the 
smoking-room  when  the  forward  cable  parted. 
Now,  with  the  magnificent  courage  invariably 
shown  by  American  sailors  even  when  the  gates 
of  death  gape  wide  before  their  eyes,  the  first 


THE  WRECK  125 

and  second  officers  contrived  to  hoist  the  two 
girls  to  the  chart-room  behind  the  bridge. 

Sturgess,  behaving  with  great  gallantry, 
helped  the  women  first,  and  then  their  father, 
who  was  floating  in  the  room,  to  reach  the  only 
available  gangway.  Others  followed,  but  the 
difficulty  of  rescue — if  such  a  sorrowful  transi- 
tion might  be  called  a  rescue — was  enhanced  by 
the  noise  and  sudden  darkness. 

Ever  the  central  citadel  of  the  Southern 
Cross  was  sinking  lower.  Ever  the  leaping 
waves  and  their  clouds  of  spray  tended  more 
and  more  to  shut  out  the  light. 

Seven  people  were  plucked  from  immediate 
death  in  this  fashion.  All  told,  officers,  crew 
and  passengers,  the  survivors  of  seventy-four 
souls  numbered  twelve. 

There  was  a  thirteenth,  because  Maseden  was 
lying  high  and  dry  in  his  bunk.  But  of  him  they 
took  no  count. 

They  gathered  in  the  chart-room.  Those  who 
still  retained  their  senses  tried  to  revive  the 
more  fortunate  ones  to  whom  was  vouchsafed 
a  merciful  oblivion  of  their  common  plight. 
Even  in  the  temporary  haven  of  the  chart-room 
the  conditions  quickly  savored  of  utter  misery. 
The  windows  were  blown  away.  The  doors 
were  jammed  open  by  the  warping  of  the  deck. 
"Wind,  waves  and  sheets  of  spray  seemed  to  vie 
with  demoniac  energy  as  to  which  could  be  most 


126  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

cruel  and  deadly.  The  ceaseless  warping  and 
working  of  what  was  left  of  the  ship  presaged 
complete  collapse  at  any  moment,  and  the  din 
of  the  reef  was  stupefying. 

Still,  the  captain  did  not  abate  one  jot  of  his 
cool  demeanor.  He  eyed  the  sea,  the  rocks,  the 
remains  of  his  ship  and  the  beetling  crags  from 
which  he  was  cut  off  by  sixty  feet  of  raging 
water. 

Then  he  deliberately  turned  his  back  on  it  all. 
Going  to  a  locker,  he  produced  a  screwdriver 
and  began  methodically  drawing  the  screws  of 
the  door-hinges. 

The  chief  officer  thought  that  the  other  man's 
brain  had  yielded  to  the  stress. 

"What  are  you  doing,  sir?"  he  said,  placing 
a  hand  gently  on  his  friend's  shoulder. 

"We  haven't  a  ten-million  to  one  chance  of 
remaining  here  till  the  gale  gives  out, ' '  was  the 
calm  answer,  "but  we  may  as  well  rig  up 
some  sort  of  protection  from  the  weather. 
There  are  four  lockers  and  four  doors.  Let's 
block  up  those  broken  windows  as  well  as 
we  can." 

A  curiously  admiring  light  shone  in  the  chief 
officer's  eyes.  He  said  nothing,  but  helped. 
Soon  a  corner  was  completely  walled.  They 
decided  it  was  better  to  have  one  section 
thoroughly  shielded  than  the  whole  only 
partially. 


THE  WRECK  127 

They  made  a  quick  job  of  it.  The  girls,  Mr. 
Gray,  and  two  men  recovering  consciousness 
were  allotted  to  the  angle. 

Then  the  captain  opened  one  of  the  three  bot- 
tles of  claret  stored  in  a  locker,  and  portioned 
out  the  contents  among  the  survivors. 

There  was  no  need  to  measure  the  share  of 
a  heavily-built  Spaniard  who  was  reputed  to  be 
a  wealthy  rancher  from  the  Argentine.  His 
spine  was  broken  when  the  ship  lurched  over 
the  reef.  He  was  found  dead  when  they  tried 
to  move  him  to  the  sheltered  corner. 

And  now  a  pall  of  darkness  spread  swiftly 
over  the  face  of  the  waters.  The  tide  fell,  but 
the  ship  sank  with  it.  She  no  longer  rocked  and 
shook  under  the  blows  of  the  waves.  It  seemed 
as  though  she  knew  herself  crippled  beyond  all 
hope  of  succor,  and  only  awaited  another  tide 
to  meet  annihilation. 

Wind  and  sea  were  more  furious  than  ever. 
In  all  likelihood,  the  gale  would  blow  itself  out 
next  day.  But  long  before  dawn  the  rising  tide 
would  have  made  short  work  of  what  was  left 
of  the  Southern  Cross. 

Never  was  a  small  company  of  Christian  peo- 
ple in  a  more  hopeless  position.  Every  boat 
was  gone.  They  had  no  food.  They  were  wet 
to  the  skin,  and  pierced  with  bitter  cold.  Even 
the  hardy  captain's  teeth  chattered  as  he  took 
a  pipe  from  his  pocket,  rolled  some  tobacco  be- 


128  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

tweeH  the  palms  of  his  hands,  and  said  smil- 
ingly to  those  near  him : 

"This  is  one  of  the  occasions  when  a  water- 
tight pipe-lighter  is  a  real  treasure.  Who'd 
like  a  smoke?  You  must  find  your  own  pipes. 
I  can  supply  some  'baccy  and  a  light!" 


CHAPTER 

ONE    CHANCE    IN    A    MILLION 

MASEDEN  was  badly  hurt  and  quite  stunned. 
Of  that  there  could  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  He 
was  blissfully  unaware  of  the  destruction  of  the 
ship,  and  did  not  regain  his  senses  until  long 
after  the  captain  and  some  few  of  the  men  gath- 
ered in  the  dismantled  chart-room  had  in- 
dulged in  what  was  to  prove  their  last  pipeful 
of  tobacco. 

Even  when  a  species  of  ordered  perception 
was  restored  he  was  wholly  unable  during  an 
hour  or  more  to  collect  his  wits  sufficiently  to 
understand  just  what  had  happened. 

Certain  phenomena  were  vaguely  disturbing ; 
that  was  all.  He  knew,  for  instance,  that  the 
Southern  Cross  was  wrecked,  because  the  deck 
was  tilted  permanently  at  an  alarming  angle. 
As  the  downward  slope  was  forward,  however, 
and  his  bunk  lay  across  it  and  on  the  forward 
side  of  the  door  the  physical  outcome  was  by 
no  means  unpleasant,  since  his  body  was 
wedged  comfortably  between  the  mattress  and 
the  bulkhead. 

He  was  dry  and  warm.    The  weather-proof 

129 


130  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

garments  of  the  pampas  were  admirably 
adapted  to  resist  exposure,  while  the  pitch  of 
the  deck,  aided  by  the  conformation  of  the 
bows,  diminished  the  striking  power  of  the 
waves  and  carried  the  spray  and  broken  water 
clean  over  the  remains  of  the  forecastle. 

Maseden's  position  resembled  that  of  a  man 
ensconced  in  a  dry  niche  of  a  cave  behind  a 
waterfall.  So  long  as  he  did  not  move  and  the 
cavern  held  intact  he  was  safe  and  comfortable. 
Happily,  a  long  time  elapsed  between  the  first 
glimmer  of  consciousness  and  the  moment  when 
the  knowledge  was  borne  in  on  him  that  he  was 
actually  beset  by  immediate  and  most  deadly 
peril. 

He  imagined  that  the  ship  had  been  cast 
ashore  after  he  met  with  some  rather  serious 
accident,  that  some  kind  Samaritan  had  tucked 
him  into  his  own  berth,  and  that,  in  due  course, 
some  one  would  look  in  on  him  with  a  cheery  in- 
quiry as  to  how  he  was  faring.  His  answer 
would  have  been  that  his  head  ached  abomina- 
bly, that  his  mouth  and  throat  were  on  fire,  and 
that  a  long  drink  of  cold  water  was  the  one 
thing  needed  to  send  him  to  sleep  and  speedy 
recovery. 

He  did  not  realize  that  when  he  dropped  face 
downward  into  the  folds  of  the  sail  he  had  swal- 
lowed a  quantity  of  salt  water  lodged  there  in- 
stantly by  the  pelting  seas.  It  was  not  until  he 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     131 

moved,  and  yielded  to  a  fit  of  vomiting,  which 
relieved  the  pain  in  his  head  and  cleared  his 
faculties,  that  the  dreadful  truth  began  to  dawn 
in  his  mind. 

Once,  however,  the  process  of  clear  reason- 
ing set  in,  it  developed  rapidly.  He  noticed,  in 
the  first  instance,  that  the  angle  of  the  deck  was 
becoming  steeper.  It  was  strange,  he  thought, 
that  although  the  light  was  failing,  no  one  came 
near.  His  ears,  too,  told  him  that  seas  were 
still  hammering  furiously  on  every  side. 

Finally,  a  marked  movement  of  the  forecastle 
as  it  slipped  over  a  smooth  rock  race,  owing  to 
the  increase  of  dead  weight  brought  about  by 
the  falling  tide,  induced  a  species  of  alarmed 
curiosity  which  proved  a  most  potent  tonic.  At 
one  moment  feeling  hardly  able  to  move,  the 
next  he  was  scrambling  out  of  the  bunk  and 
climbing  crab-like  through  the  doorway. 

Then  he  saw  that  the  forecastle  deck  had  been 
torn  away  in  line  with  the  forward  bulkhead  of 
the  fore  hold.  With  some  difficulty,  being  still 
physically  weak  and  shaken,  he  raised  head  and 
shoulders  above  this  jagged  edge  and  peered 
over. 

Then  he  understood.  The  ship  was  in  pieces 
on  the  reef.  Two  bits  of  her  still  remained ;  the 
forecastle,  a  stubborn  wedge  nearly  always  the 
last  part  of  a  steel-built  vessel  to  collapse,  and 
the  bridge,  with  its  backing  of  the  chart  house. 


132  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

All  else  had  gone — the  funnels  had  fallen  an 
hour  earlier. 

Even  the  steel  plates  and  stout  wood  work  of 
the  superstructure  had  melted  away  from  the 
six  strong  ribs  to  which  the  sunken  engines  were 
bolted,  leaving  the  bridge  and  chart  house  in 
air. 

Already,  too,  one  of  the  six  pillars  which  had 
proved  the  salvation  of  that  forlorn  aerie  had 
yielded  to  the  strain  and  snapped.  In  the  half- 
light  it  was  difficult  to  discern  just  what  sup- 
port was  given  to  the  squat  rectangle  of  the 
chart-house;  Maseden  had  to  look  long  and 
steadily  through  the  flying  scud  before  he  gath- 
ered the  exact  facts. 

The  upper  deck  of  the  forecastle  shut  off  any 
glimpse  of  the  cliffs.  All  he  could  see  was  the 
reef,  much  more  visible  now,  but  still  partially 
submerged  by  every  sea;  beyond  it,  a  howling 
wilderness  of  broken  water,  and  in  the  midst  of 
this  depressing  picture,  the  ghost-like  chart- 
house  and  bridge. 

But  he  recalled  vividly  enough  the  sight  of 
an  awesome  precipice  close  at  hand  before 
something  had  hit  him  and  robbed  him  of 
senses.  If  the  ship,  or  what  was  left  of  her,  was 
lodged  on  the  reef  towards  which  she  was  being 
driven  at  the  time  of  his  mishap,  the  shore  could 
not  be  far  distant. 

Within  a  foot  of  where  he  lay  on  the  deck, 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     133 

clinging  to  it  as  a  man  might  save  himself  from 
falling  off  the  steeply-pitched  roof  of  a  house, 
was  the  big  bole  of  the  foremast,  on  which  the 
rings  of  the  sails  formed  a  sort  of  ladder.  He 
pulled  himself  up,  stretched  his  body  along  the 
mast  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  made  out 
the  uneven  summit  of  the  cliff  above  the 
straight  line  of  the  upper  deck. 

He  was  exposed  to  the  weather  here,  but  the 
waves  were  not  breaking  across  the  forecastle 
now,  and  the  spray  and  biting  wind  tended 
rather  to  dissipate  the  feeling  of  lassitude 
which  had  proved  quite  overpowering  while  he 
remained  in  the  bunk.  He  raised  himself  cau- 
tiously another  foot  or  so,  and  the  rugged  wall 
of  the  precipice  loomed  so  close  that  at  first 
he  fancied  the  wreck  was  touching  it. 

The  broken  topmast,  however,  swaying  in  the 
wind,  and  still  held  to  its  more  solid  support  by 
a  couple  of  wire  stays,  pointed  drunkenly  at  the 
cliff,  and  the  pulley  dangling  from  it  was  oc- 
casionally dashed  by  the  gale  against  an  over- 
hanging ledge. 

Even  while  Maseden  was  arriving  at  a  pretty 
accurate  estimate  of  the  way  in  which  he  had 
been  injured — because  he  now  recalled  the  part- 
ing of  the  anchor  cable — the  forecastle  moved 
again,  the  wet  and  frowning  wall  became  even, 
more  visible,  and  although  an  awesome  gap  in- 
tervened, the  swaying,  pointed  spar  seemed  to 


134  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

offer  a  fantastic  glimpse  of  a  means  of  escape. 

As  yet,  the  truck,  or  top  of  the  mast,  was 
fully  sixteen  feet  distant  from  the  face  of  the 
cliff.  But  it  had  been  twenty  feet  or  more  dis- 
tant a  moment  ago,  and  that  last  movement  of 
the  hull  had  lessened  the  width  of  the  chasm. 

What  if  the  spar  jammed?  Could  a  man  ob- 
tain foothold  on  that  slimy  rock  surface? 

He  thought  it  possible.  A  deep  crevice 
seemed  to  promise  some  vague  prospect  of  up- 
ward progress  to  one  who  could  climb,  and  to 
whom  any  risk  was  preferable  to  the  certain 
fate  which  must  attend  remaining  on  the  wreck 
during  the  coming  tide. 

But,  notwithstanding  his  partial  recovery,  he 
still  felt  very  feeble  and  quite  unequal  to  more 
exertion.  As  nothing  in  the  way  of  an  attempt 
to  save  his  life  was  possible  until  the  broken 
topmast  was  lodged  firmly  against  the  cliff,  he 
wondered  whether  he  would  find  some  sort  of 
food  in  the  forecastle. 

It  was  improbable,  of  course.  Meals  were 
brought  from  the  cook's  galley  amidships,  and 
utensils  only  were  stored  in  the  lockers  of  the 
dingy  saloon  in  which  he  and  many  of  the  sail- 
ors used  to  eat. 

Still,  spurred  by  the  necessity  of  doing  some- 
thing to  take  his  mind  off  the  fearsome  alter- 
native should  the  forecastle  topple  over  side- 
ways, or  even  remain  in  its  present  position,  he 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     135 

turned  his  back  on  the  cliff.  With  never  a 
glance  at  the  bridge,  he  regained  the  sloping 
deck,  lowered  himself  to  the  doorway  of  his  own 
cabin,  and  peered  into  the  gloom  in  the  effort 
to  determine  how  best  and  where  to  begin  his 
search. 

At  first  his  heart  sank,  because  the  saloon  was 
awash.  Then  he  remembered  the  Spanish  sail- 
or 's  queer  offer  of  a  bottle  of  brandy,  stored  in 
a  kit-bag  in  number  seven  berth,  "the  lowest 
bunk  on  the  left. ' ' 

Number  seven !  Had  he  not  seen  the  man  at 
odd  times  entering  or  leaving  the  second  cabin 
on  the  port  side?  At  any  rate,  there  was  no 
harm  in  trying. 

Crawling  farther  into  the  darkness,  he 
walked  on  what  was  normally  the  cross  bulk- 
head of  the  saloon,  groped  to  a  doorway,  fo.und 
a  kit-bag  in  the  stated  position,  opened  it,  and 
came  upon  a  bottle  of  brandy ! 

He  drank  a  little.  Luckily  it  was  not  the  raw 
spirit  beloved  of  such  men  as  its  late  owner,  but 
sound,  mellow  liquor,  which  the  Spaniard  had 
probably  bought  as  a  medicine. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  brandy  exercised  the 
magical  effect  which  good  cognac  always  pro- 
duces in  those  wise  enough  not  to  vitiate  the 
blood  with  alcohol  when  in  robust  health. 
For  the  first  time  since  he  was  struck  down, 
Maseden  felt  himself  capable  of  putting  forth 


136  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

physical  effort  involving  sustained  muscular 
exertion. 

He  returned  to  his  own  cabin,  secured  the 
poncho,  or  cloak,  and  wrapped  the  bottle  in  it. 
Eummaging  round  in  the  dark,  he  laid  hands  on 
a  strap,  with  which  he  buckled  the  folded 
poncho  tightly  to  his  shoulders.  Then  review- 
ing the  prospects  which  awaited  an  unfortunate 
castaway  on  that  inhospitable  coast,  he  en- 
deavored to  get  at  his  own  trunk. 

Therein,  however,  he  failed.  The  iron  frame 
of  the  bunk  had  buckled,  and  the  trunk  was  held 
as  in  a  vise. 

Realizing  that  he  had  very  little  time  before 
the  light  in  the  interior  of  the  forecastle  would 
vanish  altogether,  he  hurried  back  to  the  Span- 
iard's berth  and  hauled  out  the  kit-bag.  He  had 
an  uncomfortable  feeling  that  he  was  robbing 
the  dead,  but  if  it  were  practicable  to  land  any 
sort  of  stores  the  effort  should  be  made. 

He  had  not  a  moment  to  spare  for  further 
search.  The  forecastle  slipped  again,  and  he 
experienced  no  little  difficulty  in  regaining  his 
perch  on  the  solid  stump  of  the  foremast,  on 
which,  so  nearly  had  it  approached  the  hori- 
zontal, he  could  sit  quite  easily. 

The  dangling  spar,  he  estimated,  was  now 
about  eight  feet  from  the  cliff.  Would  it  catch 
the  rock  wall  while  any  glimmer  of  light  re- 
mained, or  would  some  new  movement  of  the 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     137 

wreck  divert  its  progress  ?  He  could  only  hope 
for  the  best  and  be  ready  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity when,  if  ever,  it  presented  itself. 

To  his  thinking,  the  gale  was  moderating; 
but  he  dared  not  indulge  in  the  smallest  hope 
that  the  forecastle  would  live  through  the  next 
tide.  The  heavy  swell  of  the  Pacific  after  a 
westerly  storm  would  create  a  worse  sea  on  the 
reef  than  that  already  experienced.  Probably 
the  breakers  would  be  more  destructive  im- 
mediately after  than  during  the  gale. 

It  was  at  that  moment,  when  in  a  plight  sel- 
dom equaled  and  never  surpassed  by  any  man 
destined  to  survive  a  disastrous  shipwreck,  that 
Maseden's  thoughts  reverted  to  his  fellow  pas- 
sengers. There  was  no  need  to  watch  the  spar, 
since  he  could  not  fail  to  become  aware  of  any 
further  movement  of  the  forecastle,  so  he 
lashed  the  kit-bag  to  a  sail  ring,  again  turned 
his  back  on  the  cliff,  and  gave  close  attention  to 
the  chart-house. 

Despite  the  increasing  darkness  it  was  a  good 
deal  more  visible  now  than  when  he  had  looked 
that  way  earlier.  No  dense  clouds  of  spray  or 
spindrift  intervened;  hence  he  noticed  for  the 
first  time  the  improvised  shutters  which  had  re- 
placed the  glass  front  of  the  structure  on  the 
seaward  side. 

He  was  wondering  whether  or  not  it  was  pos- 
sible that  some  one  might  still  be  living  on  the 


138  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

only  other  part  of  the  ship  still  intact,  when  he 
became  aware  of  a  figure  silhouetted  against  the 
sky  above  the  canvas  screen  of  the  bridge. 

It  was,  in  fact,  the  captain,  who  crept  out  of 
the  chart-house  every  now  and  then  to  examine 
the  state  of  the  iron  uprights  and  the  condition 
of  the  reef.  The  gallant  old  sailor  had  aban- 
doned, or  never  formed,  any  notion  of  escape, 
because  nothing  could  live  for  an  instant  on  the 
reef  itself,  and  he  could  not  possibly  detect  the 
chance  of  salvation  offered  by  the  broken  mast. 
But  the  nature  of  the  man  demanded  that  he 
should  keep  watch  and  ward  over  those  com- 
mitted to  his  care.  In  all  likelihood  he  experi- 
enced a  vague  sense  of  relief  in  being  able  to 
discharge  even  the  melancholy  duty  of  noting 
the  gradual  breaking-up  of  the  supports. 

Three  had  gone,  two  on  the  port  side  and  one 
on  the  starboard.  When  the  third  stanchion 
yielded  on  the  port  side,  bridge  and  chart-room 
would  fall  with  a  crash  and  there  would  be  an 
end.  He  said  nothing  of  this  to  the  unhappy 
company  within. 

"The  weather  is  improving,"  he  told  them 
cheerfully,  as  Maseden  heard  later.  "I  can't 
honestly  give  you  any  prospect  of  escape,  but — 
while  there's  life  there's  hope !" 

And  all  the  time  he  was  listening  for  the 
ominous  crack  which  would  be  the  precursor  of 
that  final  sinking  into  the  depths !  The  marvel 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION      139 

was  that  the  middle  of  the  ship  had  held  to- 
gether so  long,  but  by  no  miracle  known  to  man 
could  what  was  left  of  her  survive  the  next  tide. 

Yet  why  should  he  add  to  misery  already 
abyssmal?  Death  would  be  a  blessed  relief; 
waiting  for  certain  death  was  the  worst  of  tor- 
tures. 

No  one  answered.  The  survivors — of  the 
twelve  four  were  dead  now — were  perishing 
with  cold  and  dumbly  resigned  to  their 
wretched  fate.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  protec- 
tion afforded  by  the  improvised  screen,  none 
would  have  been  alive  even  then. 

The  wind  still  swirled  and  eddied  into  every 
nook  and  cranny.  Though  huddled  together, 
the  little  group  of  men  and  women  were  con- 
scious of  no  warmth.  It  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  those  not  clad  in  oilskins  kept  any 
garments  on  their  bodies. 

So  merciless  is  the  havoc  of  the  sea  that  its 
victims  are  stripped  naked  even  while  clinging 
to  the  battered  hulk  of  a  ship,  though  this  last 
device  of  a  seemingly  demoniac  savagery  is 
easily  accounted  for.  No  product  of  loom  or 
spinning  machine  can  withstand  the  disin- 
tegrating effects  of  breaking,  waves  helped  by  a 
fierce  gale.  The  seams  and  fastenings  of  ordi- 
nary garments  cannot  resist  the  combined  as- 
sault. In  such  circumstances,  a  woman 's  flimsy 
attire  will  be  torn  off  her  in  a  few  minutes, 


140  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

while  the  strongest  of  boots  have  been  known  to 
collapse  after  some  hours  of  this  kind  of  expo- 
sure. 

Luckily  a  number  of  oilskins  were  kept  in  the 
chart-room  of  the  Southern  Cross,-  these  were 
quickly  served  out  to  the  shivering  girls,  whose 
clothing  had  practically  melted  away  as  though 
made  of  thin  paper. 

Soon  after  the  captain  had  tried  to  hearten 
them  with  that  scrap  of  proverbial  philosophy, 
one  of  the  girls,  Nina,  screamed  in  an  elfin  note 
that  dominated  even  the  roaring  of  the  reef  for 
an  instant.  Her  father  had  collapsed.  It  was 
useless  to  pretend  that  he  might  only  have 
fainted.  They  who  fell  now  were  doomed.  In 
Mr.  Gray's  case,  he  was  dead  ere  he  sank  down. 

The  chief  officer  put  a  consoling  hand  on  the 
girl's  shoulder.  He  was  a  Bostonian,  and  had 
daughters  of  his  own.  In  that  hour  of  tribula- 
tion his  speech  reverted  to  the  homely  accents 
of  New  England. 

"It  comes  hard  to  see  your  father  drop  like 
that,"  he  said.  "But  it's  better  so.  He's  just 
spared  a  bit  of  the  trouble  we  may  have  to 
face." 

"It  is  not  that,"  wailed  the  girl  brokenly, 
"I'm  thinking  of  my  mother.  She  will  never 
know.  Oh,  if  I  could  only  make  her  understand, 
I  would  not  care ! ' ' 

A  strange  answer,  the  sailor  deemed  it,  most 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     141 

probably.  At  that  instant  he  caught  the  cap- 
tain's eye.  Both  men  had  the  same  thought. 
The  dead  should  be  thrown  overboard  and  thus 
lessen  the  weight  supported  by  the  one  stan- 
chion on  the  port  side. 

But  of  what  avail  were  such  precautions? 
They  might  as  well  all  go  together,  the  quick 
and  the  dead.  Why  should  any  of  them  wish 
to  live  on  until  the  sea  rose  again  in  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning? 

The  girls  were  crying  in  each  other's  arms. 
Two  of  the  men  lifted  Gray's  body  and  placed 
it  with  four  others.  Five  gone  out  of  twelve! 

The  captain,  speaking  in  the  most  matter-of- 
fact  way,  suggested  that  they  should  open  and 
drink  the  last  bottle  of  claret  before  the  light 
failed. 

"It's  a  poor  substitute  for  a  meal,"  he  said, 
"but  it's  the  only  thing  we  can  lay  hands  on." 

The  chief  officer  nodded  his  head  towards  the 
grief-stricken  sisters. 

"Maybe  we  can  wait  a  bit  longer,"  he  said. 
"You  couldn't  persuade  them  to  touch  it  just 
now.  .  .  .  What's  that,  sir?  Did  you  hear 
anything?" 

"No.    What  could  we  possibly  hear?" 

"It  sounded  like  a  voice,  some  one  hailing." 

"I  think  I  know  whose  voice  it  is,"  said  the 
captain.  He  himself  had  almost  yielded  to  the 
delusion.  It  was  distressing  to  find  the  same 


142  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

eery  symptom  of  speedy  breakdown  in  his  old 
friend,  the  chief  officer. 

Both  men  listened,  nevertheless,  and  were 
convinced.  In  silence  they  went  out  into  the 
open,  walking  stealthily.  Each  knew  that  any 
undue  movement  might  send  the  remains  of  the 
ship  headlong  to  the  reef.  They  strained  their 
eyes  in  the  only  possible  direction  from  which 
a  voice  might  have  come — the  scrap  of  forecas- 
tle, sixty  feet  nearer  the  headland,  or,  incredi- 
ble as  it  seemed,  the  headland  itself.  They 
could  see  nothing.  Maseden's  body  was  not 
only  in  line  with  the  receding  angle  of  the  fore- 
mast, but  that  piece  of  the  wreck  was  merged 
in  the  gloom  of  the  towering  rock. 

Maseden  saw  them,  however,  and  shouted 
again,  striving  his  uttermost  now  that  he  had 
attracted  attention. 

With  each  effort  at  speech  his  voice  was  be- 
coming stronger.  Though  it  was  useless  to 
think  of  conveying  an  intelligible  message 
through  the  uproar  of  wind  and  water,  he  fan- 
cied he  could  get  into  communication  with  the 
inmates  of  the  chart-room,  provided  they  were 
on  the  alert.  In  effect,  he  had  a  knife,  and  was 
surrounded  by  an  abundance  of  tangled  cor- 
dage, and  it  would  be  a  strange  thing  if  after 
so  many  years  of  active  life  on  a  South  Ameri- 
can ranch  he  could  not  cast  a  weighted  lasso  as 
far  as  the  bridge. 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     143 

He  began  fashioning  the  necessary  coil  at 
once,  working  with  feverish  haste,  because  his 
refuge  was  on  the  move  again,  and  ever  towards 
the  land.  A  trial  cast  fell  short,  as  he  had  not 
allowed  enough  lee-way  for  the  wind.  He  was 
gathering  up  the  rope  preparatory  to  another 
effort  when  a  great  voice  boomed  at  him  frx>m 
the  shadows: 

"You  have  no  chance  here.  You  are  as  well 
off  where  you  are.  If  you  hear  me,  hail  three 
times!" 

The  captain  was  using  a  megaphone. 

Maseden  yelled  "Hi!"  three  times,  think- 
ing the  short,  sharp  syllable  would  carry 
best.  Then,  with  splendid  judgment,  he  threw 
the  lasso  in  a  lateral  parabola  that  landed  its 
end  across  the  rail  of  the  bridge,  where  it  wai 
promptly  made  fast  by  the  first  officer. 

Again  came  that  mighty  voice : 

"Is  there  any  hope  of  escape  on  your  side? 
If  so,  hail  three  times." 

He  replied.  After  a  short  delay  he  heard  the 
order : 

"Haul  in!" 

Attached  to  the  noose  of  his  rope  was  another 
rope,  and  a  second  thinner  one,  rigged  as  a 
"whip,"  or  communicating  cord.  Tied  at  the 
junction  was  the  megaphone.  The  intent  of  the 
senders  was  plain.  He  was  to  bawl  directions, 
and  they  would  obey. 


144  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

He  fancied  that  by  this  time  the  topmast 
must  be  near  the  rock,  if  not  quite  touching  it, 
but  he  had  decided  already  that  he  would 
either  save  those  hapless  people  in  the  chart- 
room  or  die  in  the  attempt. 

Perhaps  his  "wife"  was  there  yet.  Unless 
those  American  sailors  had  broken  the  first  law 
of  their  order  of  chivalry,  the  women  commit- 
ted to  their  care  had  been  safeguarded. 

Well,  he  owed  her  a  life.  Now  he  might  be 
able  to  repay  the  debt  in  full. 

He  had  never  before  handled  a  speaking 
trumpet,  so  his  initial  essay  was  brief : 

"Can  you  hear?" 

He  could  just  catch  three  faint  sounds  in  an- 
swer. 

"As  soon  as  a  sailor  can  cross  by  the  rope, 
send  one,"  he  shouted,  "I  shall  need  help  at 
this  end.  I  have  made  fast  the  heavy  rope. 
Shall  I  haul  in  the  whip?" 

There  was  a  pause  of  a  few  seconds,  but  he 
counted  on  that.  Then  he  felt  three  tugs  on 
the  thinner  cord,  and  began  to  haul  steadily. 
Soon,  by  the  sagging  of  the  main  rope  and  the 
weight  at  the  end  of  the  whip,  he  realized  that 
some  one  was  making  the  transit. 

Before  long  he  discerned  a  figure  coming 
towards  him  hand  over  hand  along  the  rope. 
The  man's  feet  were  caught  midway  by  the  seas 
boiling  over  the  reef,  but  Maseden  knew  that 


ONE  CHANCE  IN  A  MILLION     145 

the  gallant  fellow's  forward  movement  was 
never  checked,  and  in  a  very  little  while  the 
breathless  chief  officer  was  seated  astride  the 
mast  beneath  him. 

"Who  in  the  world  are  you!"  demanded  the 
newcomer;  at  any  rate,  he  used  words  to  that 
effect. 

Maseden  answered  in  kind,  and  explained  his 
project;  whereupon  the  chief  officer  seized  the 
megaphone  and  bellowed  the  necessary  instruc- 
tions. On  a  given  signal  the  two  men  hauled  on 
the  whip. 

This  time  a  figure  lashed  to  a  life-buoy,  which, 
in  turn,  was  tied  to  a  pulley  traveling  on  the 
guide-rope,  came  to  them  out  of  the  darkness. 
It  was  a  woman,  hardly  in  her  senses,  yet  able 
to  obey  when  told  to  sit  astride  the  mast  and 
hold  fast  to  a  ring. 

'  *  We  can  hardly  find  room  for  five  more  peo- 
ple here,"  shouted  the  chief  officer.  "Are  you 
game  to  shin  along  the  mast  and  see  if  that 
loose  spar  is  practicable  yet?" 

"Yes,"  said  Maseden. 

He  vanished  in  the  darkness.  He  was  absent 
fully  five  minutes,  a  period  which,  to  the  wait- 
ing chief  officer,  who  alone  knew  what  was  act- 
ually happening,  must  have  seemed  like  as  many 
hours.  Then  Maseden  returned.  By  this  time 
there  were  two  more  astride  the  foremast,  four 


146  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

in  all.  He  tied  the  nearest  one  to  his  back  with 
a  rope. 

"Can  you  steady  yourself  by  placing  your 
hands  on  my  shoulders,  but  not  around  my 
neck?"  he  said. 

For  answer  two  slim  hands  caught  his  shoul- 
ders. He  began  working  his  way  forward  into 
the  gloom. 


THE    LOTTEEY 

MASEDEN'S  prolonged  absence  on  the  first  oc- 
casion was  readily  accounted  for  by  what  he 
had  done.  When  he  reached  the  end  of  the  fore- 
mast— at  the  junction  of  spars  known  to  the 
sailor  as  the  couplings — he  found  that  the  top- 
mast was,  in  fact,  thrust  tightly  against  the 
rock  wall. 

Thus  far,  his  most  sanguine  calculations  had 
been  justified  to  the  letter. 

It  was  impossible  to  determine  how  the  other 
end  of  that  precarious  bridge  was  secured.  He 
saw  at  once,  however,  that  a  great  strain  was 
being  placed  already  on  the  stays  which  at- 
tached it,  by  chance  and  loosely  at  first,  but 
now  with  ever-increasing  rigidity,  to  the  lower 
mast.  He  thought  that  a  vigorous  kick  would 
ease  the  pressure  by  partly  freeing  one  of  the 
wire  ropes  which  had  become  entangled  in  the 
splintered  wood. 

Of  course,  he  was  only  choosing  the  lesser  of 
two  evils.  If  the  spar  snapped  a  second  time, 
the  last  hope  of  rescue  was  absolutely  de- 
stroyed. On  the  other  hand,  by  reducing  the 

147 


148  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

thrust  on  the  retaining  spar,  the  forecastle 
might  slip. 

He  kicked,  and  the  stay  was  released!  To 
the  best  of  his  belief  the  wreck  did  not  move. 

Fastening  the  seaward  end  of  the  topmast 
in  a  rough  and  ready  fashion,  in  such  wise  that 
it  was  held  in  position,  yet  allowed  some  play 
if  subjected  to  irresistible  weight,  he  tested  it 
with  one  hand.  It  remained  taut.  Then,  mur- 
muring something  which  had  the  semblance  of- 
a  prayer,  he  committed  himself  to  the  cross- 
ing. 

The  wind  carried  his  body  out  at  an  aston- 
ishing angle,  but  he  held  on.  Of  course,  he  had 
not  far  to  travel,  because  a  steamer's  topmast 
is  of  no  great  length,  but,  if  he  lives  to  become 
a  centenarian,  Maseden  will  never  forget  the 
extraordinary  thrill  of  thankfulness  and  jubi- 
lation which  ran  through  every  fibre  when  his 
right  foot  rested  on  a  projecting  knob  of 
rock. 

A  ghostly  light  coming  from  the  white  mael- 
strom beneath  enabled  him  to  make  sure  that 
the  crevice  in  which  the  spar  had  stuck  ex- 
tended some  distance  into  the  face  of  the  cliff. 
He  scrambled  ashore,  and  found  that  a  narrow 
ledge  ran  inward  about  the  height  of  his  breast. 
It  was  practicable  as  far  as  a  hand  could  reach ; 
so,  well  knowing  how  precious  was  every  sec- 
ond, he  commenced  the  return  journey. 


THE  LOTTERY  149 

He  simply  did  not  allow  himself  to  think.  The 
slightest  hesitation  might  have  been  fatal.  He 
could  form  no  sort  of  estimate  of  his  own  nerv- 
ous strength.  He  knew  that  any  man's  will- 
power may  carry  him  to  a  certain  point  and 
then  desert  him.  He  realized  that  he  was  leav- 
ing a  sort  of  safety  for  a  no  mean  chance  of 
speedy  death;  but  there  is  safety  that  is  dis- 
honor, and  death  that  is  everlastingly  honor- 
able. 

Without  any  semblance  of  hesitation,  this 
gallant  young  American  swung  forth  to  the 
desolation  and  chaos  he  had  just  quitted. 

Nor  did  his  spirit  quail  when  he  had  deposited 
a  helpless  woman  on  the  ledge.  But  his  hands 
fumbled  in  untying  the  rope  which  had  bound 
her  to  him,  and  he  became  conscious  of  an  af- 
frighting lassitude  which  brought  with  it  a 
grimmer  menace  than  the  howling  furies  of  the 
reef. 

He  tried  to  persuade  himself  that  the  poncho 
strapped  to  his  back  had  made  the  burden  of 
another  body  almost  unbearable.  Hurriedly 
unfastening  it,  he  said  to  his  collapsed  com- 
panion— or,  rather  shouted,  because  the  din 
created  by  the  breakers  was  almost  stupefy- 
ing: 

"Are  you  able  to  hold  this?" 

Probably  she  replied,  but  her  utterance  was 
swept  away  by  the  wind  ere  the  words  had 


150  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

crossed  her  lips.  She  took  the  folded  cloak  in 
her  hands,  and  the  action  sufficed. 

Then  Maseden  left  her.  During  this  second 
crossing  to  the  forecastle  he  knew  beyond  range 
of  doubt  that  he  had  reached  the  limit  of  physi- 
cal endurance.  He  had  eaten  nothing  during 
many  hours,  he  had  been  knocked  insensible  and 
had  lost  a  good  deal  of  blood.  It  was  not  in 
human  nature  that  any  man,  howsoever  fit  and 
active  he  might  be,  could  survive  these  heavy 
drains  on  his  energies  and  yet  put  forth  the 
sustained  effort  now  called  for. 

It  tasked  his  grit  to  the  uttermost  to  go  on 
this  time.  He  knew  in  his  heart  that  a  third 
double  passage  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 

So,  during  the  brief  respite  while  a  wholly 
insensible  woman  was  being  tied  to  him,  he 
contrived  to  shout  to  the  nearest  man  on  the 
spar: 

"I'm  all  in !  You  fellows  must  follow  as  best 
you  can.  It's  not  so  bad  for  a  man  crossing 
alone.  Turn  your  back  to  the  wind." 

He  had  adopted  that  method  while  carrying 
the  girl  already  on  the  rock,  and  the  force  of 
the  gale  had  seemed  to  exert  less  drag  on  his 
arms. 

It  needed  a  real  life-and-death  struggle  to 
gain  the  ledge  this  time.  During  a  minute  or 
longer  ho  could  not  even  endeavor  to  undo  the 
rope.  He  merely  lurched  forward  on  to  the 


TEE  LOTTERY  151 

tiny  platform  and  sank  in  a  heap  with  the  inert 
body  of  a  girl  bound  to  his  back.  Then  he  felt 
dizzily  that  someone  was  gaming  a  foothold 
on  the  rock  behind.  With  a  mighty  effort  he 
bundled  his  own  body  and  the  girl 's  out  of  the 
way. 

He  fancied  he  heard  a  shout  and  a  scream, 
but  was  beyond  knowing  or  caring  what  had 
happened.  Had  he  slipped  down  into  the  rag- 
ing vortex  beneath  and  been  whirled  to  almost 
instant  death  he  would  have  felt  a  sense  of  re- 
lief that  the  long  drawn-out  and  unequal  fight 
was  ended. 

He  revived  under  the  stress  of  a  new  horror. 
He  found  himself  gazing  blankly  into  a  dim  ob- 
scurity in  which  there  was  neither  broken  top- 
mast nor  unheaved  forecastle.  The  tons  of 
metal  piled  on  a  slippery  rock  had  vanished 
completely,  and  the  hapless  few  who  had  sur- 
vived the  slow  agony  of  those  hours  of  waiting 
in  the  chart-room  were  hurled  to  death  at  the 
very  moment  when  fate  tantalized  them  with 
the  prospect  of  rescue ! 

Someone  bawled  huskily  in  his  ear : 

' '  They  Ve  gone !  My  God !  What  rotten  luck ! 
I  could  almost  have  touched  the  man  crossing 
behind  me !  ...  Can  we  get  these  girls  out  of 
this?  .  .  .  Which  way  did  you  come?'* 

It  was  the  young  American  passenger,  Stur- 
gess.  He  imagined  that  the  man  who  had 


152  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

brought  hope  and  life  to  the  doomed  survivors 
of  the  Southern  Cross  had  reached  the  vessel 
from  the  land  and  could  now  pilot  the  three 
who  alone  were  saved  to  some  place  where  food 
and  repose  would  be  attainable. 

"I'm  tied  to  someone,"  Maseden  contrived 
to  say.  * i  Try  and  unfasten  the  rope,  and  shove 
me  up  on  to  the  ledge.  ...  I'm  all  in,  but  I'll 
soon  be  better.  .  .  .  Mind  you  hold  fast  your- 
self!" 

Sturgess,  though  only  a  degree  less  ex- 
hausted, did  as  he  was  asked.  Sprawling 
weakly  over  the  prostrate  body  of  the  second  of 
the  two  girls,  Maseden  felt  in  the  darkness  for 
the  other  one. 

He  discovered  that  she  had  collapsed  side- 
ways in  a  faint,  but,  by  some  marvel,  the  folded 
cloak  had  not  rolled  down  the  side  of  the  preci- 
pice. His  hands  were  feeble  and  numb,  but  he 
contrived  to  unfasten  the  strap.  The  bottle  of 
brandy  was  uninjured,  and,  so  unnerved  was  he 
by  knowing  that  the  spirit  probably  meant  all 
the  difference  between  life  and  death  for  four 
people — at  any  rate  till  dawn — that  he  actually 
dropped  it. 

Again  Providence  intervened.  It  fell  on  the 
thick  poncho,  and  did  not  break. 

Filled  with  savage  resolve  to  conquer  this 
weakness,  he  grasped  the  bottle  more  firmly, 
drew  the  cork  with  his  teeth,  and,  resisting  the 


THE  LOTTERY  153 

impulse  to  swallow  the  contents  in  great  gulps, 
sipped  some  of  the  liquor  slowly. 

He  did  not  offer  any  to  the  others  at  that  mo- 
ment. His  mind  was  clearing  now,  and  he  saw 
that  the  one  vital  thing  needed  was  that  he 
should  recover  control  of  his  mental  and  bodily 
powers.  A  few  minutes  more  or  less  of  collapse 
mattered  not  so  much  to  his  companions  as  that 
he  should  lead  or  carry  them  to  a  less  exposed 
position.  Then  the  brandy  would  be  really  ef- 
fective. At  present,  to  hand  it  around  in  the 
darkness,  while  wind  and  spindrift  were  whip- 
ping them  with  scorpions,  was  merely  courting 
the  disaster  which  he  himself  had  so  narrowly 
averted. 

The  other  man  had  gained  the  ledge.  He 
could  not  see  Maseden,  because  each  inch  of 
space  increased  an  obscurity  already  akin  to 
that  of  a  tomb,  but  he  leaned  forward  and 
caught  his  arm. 

"Say!"  he  yelled.  "Isn't  there  some  way 
out  ?  We  '11  die  quick  if  we  stop  here ! ' ' 

"You  must  wait  a  little,"  said  Maseden.  "I, 
like  yourself,  was  on  board  the  ship.  I'm 
going  to  stand  up  now  and  prospect  a  bit  by 
feeling  my  way.  Take  care  that  neither  of 
the  women  falls  off.  They  are  women,  aren't 
they?" 

"Yes.  D'ye  think  we'd  send  men  ashore 
first?" 


154  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"I  was  not  certain  that  both  girls  were  still 
living. ' ' 

"What  a  time  and  place  for  a  discussion  on 
the  etiquette  of  life-saving  at  sea !  It  was  typi- 
cal of  their  race  and  type. 

Placing  the  bottle  in  a  breast  pocket  Maseden 
rose  cautiously  to  his  feet.  Gripping  the  rock 
with  his  hands,  he  stepped  over  the  unconscious 
form  of  the  first  girl  he  brought  ashore.  Evi- 
dently she  had  collapsed  when  the  forecastle 
was  swept  away  before  her  eyes. 

The  ledge  led  straight  into  the  crevice  he  had 
entered  during  daylight,  and  though  very  un- 
even, trended  generally  upward.  He  had  to 
depend,  of  course,  wholly  on  the  sense  of  touch, 
since  the  darkness  here  was  that  of  a  deep 
mine. 

Some  thirty  feet  inland  he  was  halted  ab- 
ruptly. The  ledge  seemed  to  widen  out  and 
then  end  against  an  overhanging  rock.  But 
the  place  was  dry,  and  the  wind  hardly  pene- 
trated, while  the  deafening  thunder  of  the  reef 
had  died  down  to  a  harsh  growl.  By  compari- 
son with  the  sea  face  this  secluded  nook  was  a 
niche  in  Paradise.  At  any  rate,  here  it  was  pos- 
sible to  await  daylight  without  necessarily  dy- 
ing from  exposure. 

He  hurried  back,  having  memorized  each  in- 
equality of  floor  and  wall  on  the  journey  of  ex- 
ploration. 


THE  LOTTERY  155 

"Are  you  able  to  carry  one  of  those  girls?" 
he  shouted  to  Sturgess  when  he  was  once  more 
in  the  midst  of  the  external  uproar. 

"How  far!" 

"Not  more  than  fifteen  short  strides.  Take 
her  in  your  left  arm,  and  feel  the  rock  face  on 
the  right.  Keep  close  in.  I'm  not  certain  about 
the  width  of  this  ledge.  It  rises  a  little,  but  is 
fairly  straight." 

"Go  right  ahead!" 

Soon  the  two  men  were  in  the  haven  of  shel- 
ter at  the  further  end.  Each  was  clasping  an 
inanimate  woman,  but  happily,  speech  no  longer 
demanded  a  straining  of  vocal  chords. 

"Is  this  the  limit  of  the  accommodation?" 
inquired  Sturgess,  obeying  his  guide's  restrain- 
ing hand. 

"Yes." 

"Do  we  sit  right  down  and  hope  that  the  sun 
will  rise  sometime!" 

"Not  yet.  .  .  .  Here!  Grope  this  way.  I 
am  giving  you  a  bottle  of  brandy.  Drink  some, 
not  much,  because  we  must  hoard  it.  Then  we  '11 
try  and  get  a  few  drops  between  these  girls' 
teeth.  After  that  we  must  rub  their  hands  and 
ankles  till  the  friction  hurts.  It  may  revive 
them.  I  don't  know.  It  is  the  only  plan  I  can 
think  of.  When  they  recover,  if  ever,  we'll  seat 
them  side  by  side  with  their  backs  to  the  rock, 
you  and  I  will  squeeze  close,  one  on  each  side, 


156  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

and  I  have  a  poncho  which  will  cover  the  lot, 
By  that  means  we  may  obtain  some  degree  of 
warmth  in  common." 

1  *  Old  man,  you  said  a  page  full ! ' ' 

There  was  silence  for  a  few  seconds.  Then 
Sturgess  said  gratefully: 

"Gee!  That's  some  tonic!  Now,  how  about 
those  girls  I ' ' 

'  *  Give  me  the  bottle.  This  lady  was  conscious 
when  I  brought  her  ashore.  She  may  recover 
quickly. ' ' 

The  almost  tangible  blackness  in  which  the 
little  group  of  people  was  wrapped  greatly  en- 
hanced the  difficulties  attending  restorative 
measures.  Maseden  discovered  that  the  abund- 
ant hair  of  the  girl  he  was  hugging  so  closely 
to  his  heart  had  become  loose,  and  was  in  a  wet 
tangle  about  her  throat  and  mouth. 

The  clinging  strands  were  troublesome,  but, 
by  prizing  her  lips  open  between  a  finger  and 
thumb,  he  contrived  to  make  her  swallow  a  few 
drops  of  the  brandy.  In  fact,  while  he  was  yet 
doubting  the  efficacy  of  the  dose,  some  slight 
convulsive  movements  showed  that  conscious- 
ness was  returning. 

He  laid  her  carefully  down,  and  told  the 
American  to  do  likewise  with  the  sister.  Stur- 
gess seemed  to  be  curiously  slow  to  obey,  and 
Maseden  admonished  him  sharply,  thinking  the 
other  might  be  dazed. 


THE  LOTTERY  157 

"Now,  rub  hard!"  he  said.  "First  her  left 
hand — then  her  left  ankle." 

Both  set  to  work  with  a  will.  Maseden  could 
not  understand  why  the  unhappy  girl  should 
be  nearly  naked.  The  stockings  had  fallen 
about  her  shoes.  For  the  rest,  her  chief  gar- 
ment was  an  oilskin  coat. 

He,  be  it  remembered,  had  been  spared  the 
hard  usage  of  the  waves,  and  his  clothing  was 
better  adapted  to  existing  conditions.  He  was 
shocked  to  find  how  cold  she  was,  how  icy  and 
lifeless  her  flesh.  He  urged  Sturgess  not  to 
spare  her. 

Their  rough  and  ready  massage  soon  proved 
effective.  The  girl  gasped  something  incoher- 
ent, and  strove  to  withdraw  her  limbs  from  a 
distinctly  strenuous  handling. 

"She's  nearly  all  right,  now,"  announced 
Maseden  briskly.  "Sharp's  the  word  with  the 
other  one." 

The  second  patient  offered  a  longer  task. 
By  the  time  she  gave  any  sign  of  life  her  sister 
was  frantically  asking  what  had  become  of  her, 
and  was  only  quieted  by  Maseden  saying 
sternly : 

"You  will  help  most  by  not  bothering  us.  We 
are  doing  our  best  for  your  sister.  She  is  here, 
and  may  recover.  That  is  all  I  can  tell  you. ' ' 

"We?  Who  ^are  we?"  came  the  broken 
cry. 


158  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"Mr.  Sturgess,  yourself,  your  sister  and  I. 
My  name  is  Maseden." 

He  caught  a  strangled  gasp  of  astonishment, 
but  Sturgess  broke  in  breathlessly,  for  the  ex- 
ertion was  warming  him : 

"Great  Scott !  You've  got  my  name  pat,  Mr. 
Maseden.  D'ye  mean — to  tell — me — you  were 
— on  board — that  poor  old  ship?" 

"Rub!  And  don't  talk!  ...  She  moved  a 
little  then." 

His  judgment  was  well  founded.  Within  a 
few  minutes  he  heard  the  second  girl  address 
her  sister  as  Nina. 

So  this  one  was  Madge,  his  wife !  He  had  lit- 
erally brought  her  back  from  the  very  gates  of 
death.  He  could  not  even  see  her.  What  a 
curious  coincidence  that  when  she  saved  his 
life,  and  he  saved  hers,  she  was  equally  hidden 
from  him;  then  by  a  veil,  now  by  the  pall  of 
the  darkest  night  he  had  ever  experienced ! 

The  girls  began  exchanging  broken  confi- 
dences. Madge,  who  had  fainted  while  being 
towed  across  the  fearsome  chasm  between 
bridge  and  forecastle,  did  not  know  of  the  loss 
of  the  captain  and  chief  and  second  officers, 
with  a  passenger,  until  told  by  Nina.  She  wept 
bitterly,  and  Maseden  could  not  help  noticing 
that  Sturgess  tried  to  console  her  in  a  very 
lover-like  manner. 

He  actually  smiled  at  the  tragic  humor  of  it 


THE  LOTTERY  159 

all,  especially  when  Nina  seemed  to  sense  his 
thought,  and  valiantly  interfered  by  bidding 
Madge  not  to  add  to  their  misery  by  useless 
grief.  He  refrained  purposely  from  giving 
them  any  more  brandy  until  some  time  had 
elapsed.  Now  that  their  faculties  were  re- 
stored, he  knew,  from  his  own  experiences,  that 
their  tongues  and  palates  were  on  fire  with  the 
salt-laden  atmosphere  they  had  perforce  in- 
haled during  so  many  hours. 

But  each  minute  of  quiet  in  this  sheltered 
nook,  and  in  breathable  air,  would  do  much  to 
alleviate  their  suffering,  and  he  trusted  to  the 
brandy  to  put  them  to  sleep. 

In  effect,  that  was  what  actually  happened. 
When  each  of  the  four  had  swallowed  a  small 
quantity  of  the  spirit  Maseden  and  Sturgess 
nestled  in  beside  the  two  girls  and  tucked  the 
poncho  over  knees  and  feet.  The  bodies  of  the 
men  served  as  excellent  shields.  In  the  physi- 
cal and  mental  reaction  which  set  in  with  the 
consciousness  of  assured  safety — because  that 
was  what  both  girls  thought,  and  neither  man 
cared  to  weaken  their  faith — they  were  sound 
asleep  within  half  an  hour  of  the  time  they  left 
the  wreck. 

Sturgess,  too,  was  worn  out,  and  slept  fit- 
fully, but  it  was  long  before  Maseden 's  over- 
taxed nerves  would  yield.  He  could  not  help 
speculating  as  to  what  wretched  hap  the  com- 


160  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

ing  day  might  bring.  There  was  a  gnawing 
dread  in  his  mind  that  they  might  be  lodged  in 
a  fissure  of  an  unscalable  cliff.  If  that  were 
so,  what  a  fearsome  prospect  lay  before  them ! 
The  mere  notion  was  unendurable,  and  he  reso- 
lutely refused  to  dwell  on  it. 

Then  he  mused  on  the  queer  chance  which, 
even  in  this  small  company,  divorced  him  from 
his  wife.  He  had  rescued  Nina  first.  By  the 
accident  of  situation  he  was  nearest  the  rock 
which  closed  the  ledge,  and  she  next.  It  was 
her  body,  not  his  wife's,  to  which  he  was  close 
pressed,  and  in  which  his  more  vigorous  frame 
had  already  induced  a  certain  comfortable 
warmth. 

Her  head  had  fallen  on  his  shoulder.  An 
unconscious  movement  revealed  that  some 
roughness  in  the  rock  wall  was  hurtful,  so  he 
put  his  left  arm  around  her  neck  and  pillowed 
her  gently. 

Try  as  he  might,  he  found  himself  still  brood- 
ing on  the  chances  of  the  coming  day.  Fortune 
favoring,  they  might  find  a  way  to  the  summit 
of  the  cliff.  Would  they  be  much  better  off? 
"Water  they  would  surely  obtain — but  what  of 
food? 

Somehow,  in  such  woful  plight,  a  man's  mind 
iurns  instinctively  to  a  pipe.  He  actually  had 
a  cherished  briar  between  his  teeth  and  a  to- 
bacco pouch  in  his  hand,  when  his  heart  sank 


THE  LOTTERY  161 

at  the  remembrance  that  he  had  struck  the  last 
match  in  the  only  box  of  matches  in  his  pocket 
after  breakfast  that  morning.  He  recollected 
tossing  the  empty  box  into  the  sea.  Subse- 
quently, in  lighting  a  cigar,  he  had  borrowed  a 
match. 

Searching  his  pockets  without  disturbing  the 
exhausted  girl  by  his  side,  he  made  sure  of  the 
unhappy  truth.  He  had  no  match.  Even  if 
they  reached  the  interior  of  the  island  they 
could  not  possibly  start  a  fire. 

He  knew  at  once  that  Sturgess,  who  had  been 
soaked  in  salt  water  for  many  hours,  was  in  a 
worse  predicament  than  himself,  because  his 
own  clothing  was  dry  inside,  whereas  the  other 
was  wet  to  the  skin,  and  any  matches  he  might 
have  carried  must  be  in  a  pulp. 

Tucked  away  in  a  money  belt,  Maseden  car- 
ried ten  thousand  dollars  in  American  bills,  yet 
one  small  box  of  matches  would  be  of  far 
greater  practical  value  in  that  hour  than  all  the 
money.  Slight  wonder,  then,  if  his  stout  heart 
failed  him  at  last  and  the  darkness  closed  in 
on  his  soul  as  on  his  eyes. 

The  sleeping  girl,  conscious  only  of  warmth 
and  protection,  snuggled  her  head  a  little 
nearer. 

"Mother,  darling,"  she  murmured,  "we  had 
to  do  it!  We  had  no  choice.  It  was  for  your 
dear  sake!" 


162  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

That  was  all — some  troubled  confidence  of  a 
dream — but  it  sufficed  to  set  Maseden  musing 
on  the  strange  vortex  into  which  fate  had  sucked 
him  from  the  peace  and  seclusion  of  Los  Andes 
ranch. 

His  mind  wandered.  He  saw  again  the  mag- 
nificent groves  of  mahogany  trees  and  coyal 
palms,  with  their  golden  flowers  fully  three  feet 
in  height,  and  the  chicka  sap  oozing  from  the 
bark.  He  sauntered  through  the  well-cultivated 
plantations  of  bananas,  yams,  arrow-root, 
guavas,  and  all  the  fruit  and  cereals  which  that 
favored  region  of  Central  America  produces  in 
such  abundance  that  men  grow  lazy  and  are 
content  to  plot  and  thieve  rather  than  toil.  He 
particularly  recalled  a  number  of  "chocolate" 
trees,  the  marvelous  growth  which  yields  a 
more  delicately  flavored  beverage  than  the 
cocoa-tree. 

The  original  owner  of  the  ranch  prided  him- 
self on  these  trees — botanically,  the  Herrania 
purpurea — because  they  were  not  indigenous 
to  San  Juan,  but  had  been  brought  from  Guate- 
mala. Los  Andes  ranch  was  indeed  a  veritable 
Garden  of  Eden. 

While  roaming  through  it  in  spirit  Maseden 
dropped  off  to  sleep. 

And  that  was  a  kindly  act  on  the  part  of  a 
Providence  which  marks  even  the  fall  of  a  spar- 
row from  a  house-top.  A  full  day  lay  before 


THE  LOTTERY  163 

this  man  and  those  others  committed  to  his 
care.  Even  a  couple  of  hours*  fitful  repose 
served  as  a  splendid  restorative.  Without  some 
such  respite  he  could  never  have  faced  and  car- 
ried through  the  almost  Sisyphean  task  which 
awaited  him  at  daylight. 

He  awoke  with  a  shiver.  He  was  chilled  to 
the  bone.  Not  knowing  what  he  was  doing,  he 
had  drawn  the  poncho  closely  over  Nina  Gray, 
leaving  his  own  limbs  almost  uncovered.  Star- 
tled lest  the  others  might  be  stiff  in  death,  since 
his  clothes  were  dry,  while  theirs,  such  as  they 
possessed,  were  wet,  he  touched  the  girl's  cheek. 
It  was  quite  warm  and  soft. 

The  oilskins  she  and  her  sister  wore  and  the 
huddling  together  of  the  four  under  the  heavy 
poncho  had  generated  a  moist  heat  which  prob- 
ably helped  to  preserve  the  two  delicate  women 
from  some  type  of  deadly  pneumonia. 

At  first  it  did  not  strike  Maseden  as  strange 
that  he  should  be  able  to  see  her  face.  As  the 
initial  feeling  of  panic  passed,  and  he  glanced 
around,  he  understood  what  had  happened.  The 
sky  was  clear,  and  the  moon,  late  risen,  was 
spreading  a  mild  radiance  over  rocks  and 
sea. 

By  raising  himself  a  little,  so  as  not  to  dis- 
turb the  sleeper  still  trustfully  tucked  under 
his  arm,  he  peered  sidewise  down  on  the  reef. 
The  tide  was  high,  and  great  rollers  were 


164  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

smashing  over  the  barrier  which  had  broken  the 
Southern  Cross. 

So  far  as  he  could  tell,  not  a  vestige  of  the 
ship  remained.  Bridge  and  chart-house  had 
vanished.  He  fancied  that  some  part  of  the 
framework  accounted  for  a  particularly  vexed 
boiling  of  the  surges  on  a  spot  where  the  en- 
gines and  stoke-hold  had  lodged.  But  that  was 
only  guesswork. 

The  morning  tide  had  done  its  work  with 
thoroughness.  The  Southern  Cross  had  be- 
come a  memory. 

Then  he  surveyed  the  ledge  and  the  cleft.  Ap- 
parently, at  this  point,  he  was  some  twenty  feet 
above  high-water  mark.  To  the  left  was  the 
sea.  To  the  right,  the  rock  overhung  the  ledge 
in  such  wise  that  the  place  was  almost  a  cave. 
This  fact,  combined  with  the  elevation  of  the 
opposite  wall,  explained  the  shelter  the  cast- 
aways had  been  vouchsafed  from  the  bitter  gale 
now  blowing  itself  out.  But  it  was  affrighting 
to  realize  that  the  very  physical  feature  which 
provided  a  refuge  might  also  immure  them  in  a 
living  tomb. 

He  shuddered,  and  moved  involuntarily,  and 
the  girl  awoke  with  a  start. 

She  lifted  her  head,  and  gazed  at  him  with 
uncomprehending  eyes. 

" Where  am  I?"  she  said,  rather  in  wonder- 
ment than  alarm. 


THE  LOTTERY  165 

"Somewhere  on  the  coast  of  Chile, "  he 
said. 

She  extricated  a  hand  from  the  folds  of  the 
poncho  and  swept  the  errant  hair  from  her  face. 
Turning  partly,  she  looked  at  her  sister  and 
Sturgess. 

"I  remember  now,"  she  said  slowly.  Then 
she  discovered  that  Maseden's  arm  was  sup- 
porting her  shoulders. 

' '  Have  you  held  me  like  that  all  night  I ' '  she 
inquired. 

"  'All  night'  is  a  figure  of  speech.  It  is  not 
yet  daybreak.  This  is  moonlight." 

* '  The  moon !  Does  the  moon  still  shine  ?  But 
your  arm  must  be  weary. ' ' 

Maseden  was  just  beginning  to  realize  that 
he  owned  a  left  arm.  Circulation  was  being  re- 
stored, and  he  knew  it. 

"Now  that  you  mention  it,"  he  said  quietly, 
"I  believe  it  is." 

She  spoke  again,  but  he  was  in  such  agony 
that  he  broke  out  in  a  perspiration,  a  most  for- 
tunate circumstance,  since  he  was  perished  with 
cold.  The  spasm  did  not  last  long,  however, 
and  he  found  his  voice  again. 

"Are  you  Miss  Nina  Gray?"  he  asked,  and, 
in  the  same  breath,  was  conscious  of  the  absurd 
formality  of  the  question  in  the  conditions. 

She  did  not  answer. 

"We  may  as  well  become  acquainted,"  he 


166  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

went  on,  smiling  at  the  queer  turn  their  first 
words  had  taken. 

"Now  I  remember  everything,"  she  said, 
burying  her  face  in  her  hands. 

"I  can't  have  you  crying,"  he  muttered  with 
a  certain  roughness.  "Tears  won't  help.  We're 
in  a  pretty  bad  fix,  and  must  meet  developments 
calmly. ' ' 

"I'm  not  crying,"  she  said,  dropping  her 
hands,  and  looking  at  him  as  though  to  offer 
proof. 

"Then  you  can  at  least  tell  me  your  name, 
though  I'm  almost  sure  that  you  are  Nina. 
Even  here,  your  sister,  who  is  also  my  wife, 
keeps  away  from  me." 

"That  is  unjust.  You  saved  both  of  us,  but 
I  kept  my  senses,  and  she  did  not.  You  asked 
me  if  I  was  Nina  Gray.  I  am  not.  My  name 
is  Nina  Forbes." 

Maseden  was  stung  into  a  revolt  as  fantastic 
as  it  was  sudden. 

"Good  Lord!"  he  cried.  "Are  you  mar- 
ried?" 

"Please  let  me  explain.  Mr.  Gray  was  not 
my  father,  but  my  stepfather.  My  mother  mar- 
ried again.  I — wanted  to  tell  you.  But  does  it 
really  matter?  Why  are  we  discussing  such 
trivial  things  ?  Are  we  four  the  only  survivors 
of  the  wreck?" 

"I  suppose  so." 


THE  LOTTERY  167 

"Mr.  Gray  died — while  we  were  in  the  chart- 
room.  He  was  an  invalid — a  neurotic.  He 
could  not  withstand  hardship  of  any  sort.  But 
the  captain  and  chief  officer  were  behind  me  on 
that  mast.  .  .  .  Ah!  I  had  forgotten  that.  I 
fainted,  didn't  I? " 

"Yes." 

Madge  stirred  uneasily.  Their  voices  had 
aroused  her. 

"Don't  be  unkind  to  Madge,"  said  the  girl 
hurriedly.  *  *  Neither  of  us  could  help  what  hap- 
pened in  San  Juan.  We  thought  we  were  act- 
ing for  the  best.  Our  lives  are  still  in  jeopardy, 
I  imagine.  Won't  you  be  good  and  forget  that 
unfortunate  marriage?" 

"I  won't  talk  of  it,  if  that  is  what  you  mean. 
But  I  can  hardly  regard  it  as  unfortunate.  It 
undoubtedly  saved  my  life." 

Madge  awoke  with  a  cry. 

"Nina!"  she  screamed.  "Oh,  Nina,  is  that 
you?  Are  we  really  alive?" 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    VIGIL 

STUEGESS  awoke,  too.  Soon  they  were  talking 
freely,  and  Maseden  not  only  learned  the  heart- 
breaking story  Of  the  dozen  refugees  pent  in  the 
chart-house,  but  was  told  how  he  himself  came 
by  the  blow  on  the  head  which  took  away  his 
senses. 

Madge  Gray,  or  Forbes,  as  he  must  now  call 
her,  was  moved  to  thank  Providence  for  the 
intervention  of  the  Spanish  sailor. 

"If  that  man  hadn't  picked  you  up,  Mr.  Mase- 
den," she  said,  "you  would  have  been  washed 
overboard  a  few  seconds  later.  Then  nothing 
could  have  saved  any  of  us." 

She  seemed  to  be  completely  unaware  of  the 
sensation  she  created  by  addressing  her  res- 
cuer by  name.  Maseden  felt  Nina's  nervous 
little  start,  but  Sturgess  put  his  astonishment 
into  words. 

"Maseden!"  he  cried.  "You  know  our 
friend,  then?" 

"I — I  heard  his  name  before — on  the  ship," 
came  the  faltered  answer. 

"Well,  you  heard  more  than  7  did.  .  .  .    Are 

168 


THE  VIGIL  169 

you  the  mysterious  English-speaking  vaquero 
who  lived  in  the  forecastle?"  and  the  ques- 
tioner bent  a  puzzled  face  sideways  to  try  and 
discern  the  other  man's  features. 

"Yes,"  said  Maseden  promptly.  "There 
need  be  no  mystery  about  it  now.  I  got  into 
trouble  in  Cartagena,  shot  the  president-elect, 
and  escaped  in  the  disguise  of  a  Spanish  cow- 
boy." 

"Gee!"  exclaimed  Sturgess. 

For  some  reason  best  known  to  himself  he 
displayed  no  further  curiosity  in  the  matter, 
though  he  might  well  have  wondered  how  Madge 
Forbes  had  come  to  identify  that  picturesque- 
looking  person,  Kamon  Aliones,  with  the  Amer- 
ican whose  exploits  had  set  all  Cartagena  agog 
the  day  before  the  Southern  Cross  sailed. 

There  was  an  uncomfortable  pause,  which 
Maseden  broke  by  a  laugh. 

"So  you  see,  Mr.  Sturgess,  I  owed  you  a  good 
turn,  though  you  never  guessed  it.  By  your 
kindness  in  letting  me  carry  your  bag  and  share 
your  boat  I  got  away  from  my  pursuers  with- 
out attracting  attention." 

"Gee!"  said  Sturgess  again. 

His  comment  probably  denoted  bewilderment. 
It  may  also  have  shown  that  the  speaker  had 
just  ascertained  something  which  supplied  food 
for  thought.  In  the  half  light  Maseden  allowed 
himself  to  smile,  because  the  conceit  instantly 


170  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

leaped  into  his  mind  that  his  fellow-countryman 
might  have  been  told  of  that  amazing  marriage, 
and  was  now  engaged  in  fitting  together  certain 
pieces  of  the  puzzle. 

If,  for  instance,  Sturgess  suspected  that 
Madge  Forbes  was  the  lady  who  figured  in  that 
extraordinary  episode,  he  must  realize  that  in 
paying  her  such  marked  attention  during  the 
voyage  he  had  placed  himself,  if  not  her,  in  a 
somewhat  equivocal  position. 

"I  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  captain 
recognized  me,"  went  on  Maseden.  "Probably 
that  is  how  Miss  Forbes  came  to  hear  my 
name." 

"Miss  Forbes!" 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  new  note  of  sur- 
prise, even  of  annoyance,  in  Sturgess 's  voice. 
He  was  gathering  information  at  a  rapid  rate, 
and  evidently  found  some  difficulty  in  assimi- 
lating it. 

"Yes,"  broke  in  Nina  Forbes.  "That  is  my 
sister's  name,  and  my  own.  Mr.  Gray  was  our 
stepfather.  We  passed  as  his  daughters  while 
traveling.  The  arrangement  prevented  all  sorts 
of  misunderstandings.  In  any  event,  it  con- 
cerned none  but  ourselves.  I  only  mentioned 
the  fact  casually  to  Mr.  Maseden  a  few  minutes 
ago." 

Some  men  might  have  caught  a  rebuke  in  the 
girl's  words.  Not  so  Sturgess. 


THE  VIGIL  171 

"I'm  tickled  to  death  at  hearing  it,  anyhow," 
he  said  cheerfully.  "The  one  thing  I  couldn't 
understand  was  how  you  two  girls  could  be  that 
poor  chap's  daughters.  .  .  .  "Well,  now  we're 
all  properly  introduced,  let's  talk  as  though 
we  really  knew  one  another.  Has  any  one 
the  beginning  of  a  notion  as  to  the  time." 

Then  Maseden  remembered  that  he  was  wear- 
ing a  watch  which  he  had  wound  that  morning. 
He  produced  it,  and  was  able  to  discern  the 
hands. 

"A  quarter  past  two,"  he  announced. 

A  silence  fell  on  them.  Somehow  the  inti- 
mate and  homely  fact  that  one  of  the  little  com- 
pany possessed  a  watch  which  had  not  stopped 
served  rather  to  enhance  than  allay  the  sense 
of  peril  and  abandonment  which  their  brief  talk 
had  dispelled  for  the  moment.  A  soldier  who 
took  part  in  that  glorious  but  terrible  retreat 
from  Mons  confessed  afterwards  that  his 
spirit  quailed  once,  and  that  was  when  he 
read  the  route  names  on  a  London  suburban 
omnibus  lying  disabled  and  abandoned  by  the 
roadside. 

The  Marble  Arch,  Edgware  Road,  Maida 
Vale  and  Cricklewood — what  had  these  familiar 
localities  to  do  with  the  crash  of  shell-fire  and 
the  spattering  of  bullets  on  the  pave  ?  Simi- 
larly, the  forlorn  castaways  on  Hanover  Island 
felt  that  a  watch  was  an  absurdly  civilized  thing 


172  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

among  the  loud-voiced  savageries  of  wind  and 
wave. 

The  moonlight  died  away,  too,  with  a  sud- 
denness that  was  almost  unnerving.  True,  the 
moon  had  only  vanished  behind  a  cloud-bank. 
But  her  face  was  veiled  effectually,  and  the 
growing  darkness  soon  showed  that  she  would 
not  be  visible  again  that  night. 

They  tried  to  sleep,  but  the  effort  failed.  Lack 
of  food  was  a  more  serious  matter  now  than 
mere  physical  exhaustion.  All  four  were  young 
and  vigorous  enough  to  withstand  fatigue,  and 
to  wake  up  refreshed  after  the  brief  repose  they 
had  already  enjoyed. 

But  they  were  stiff  and  cramped,  and  their 
blood  was  beginning  to  yield  to  a  deadly  chill. 
Though  they  huddled  together  as  closely  as 
possible,  there  was  no  resisting  the  steady  en- 
croachment of  the  bitter  cold. 

At  last  Maseden  counseled  that  they  all  stand 
up,  and,  despite  the  urgent  need  of  conserving 
their  energies,  obtain  some  measure  of  warmth 
by  stretching  their  limbs  and  breathing 
deeply. 

He  even  suggested  that  they  should  sing,  but 
the  effort  to  start  a  popular  chorus  was  such 
a  lamentable  failure  that  they  laughed  dis- 
mally. 

Then  he  tried  story  telling.  He  judged,  and 
quite  rightly,  that  the  majority  of  his  hearers 


THE  VIGIL  173 

would  be  deeply  interested  in  a  recital  of  his 
own  recent  adventures. 

Greatly  daring,  he  left  out  no  detail,  and,  in 
a  darkness  which  was  almost  tangible  because 
of  its  density,  he  was  well  aware  how  alert  was 
every  ear  to  catch  the  true  version  of  an  ex- 
traordinary marriage. 

No  one  interrupted.  They  just  listened  in- 
tently. Once,  when  he  asked  if  he  was  weary- 
ing them  by  a  too  exact  description  of  events  at 
the  ranch  after  his  escape,  Nina  Forbes  said 
quietly : 

"Please  tell  us  everything,  Mr.  Maseden.  I 
have  never  heard  anything  half  so  interesting. 
You  have  caused  me  to  forget  where  I  am,  and 
I  can  give  you  no  higher  praise." 

At  last  he  made  an  end,  dwelling  purposely 
on  the  light  note  of  his  troubles  with  the  Span- 
ish sailor  who  claimed  a  vested  right  in  him 
after  the  incident  of  the  falling  block. 

Sturgess  put  a  direct  question  or  two. 

"You  don't  seem  to  have  any  sort  of  a  notion 
as  to  who  the  lady  was!"  he  began. 

"I  only  know  that  her  Christian  name  was 
Madeleine,"  answered  Maseden  readily.  "She 
was  about  to  sign  the  register  when  the  idea 
of  getting  out  of  the  Castle  dawned  on  me,  and, 
from  that  instant,  I  thought  of  nothing  else.  I 
hadn't  much  time,  you  know.  The  plan  had  to 
be  concocted  and  carried  out  almost  in  the  same 


174  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

breath.  And  there  was  no  room  for  failure. 
The  least  slip,  either  in  time  or  method,  and  I 
was  a  dead  man." 

"Madeleine!"  mused  Sturgess  aloud.  "She 
was  English,  or  American,  I  suppose?" 

"American,  I  imagine.  Undoubtedly  one  or 
the  other." 

"And  that  fat  Steinbaum  was  the  marriage 
broker!  I  know  Steinbaum — a  thug,  if  ever 
there  was  one.  .  .  .  What  are  you  going  to  do 
about  it,  Mr.  Maseden  ? ' ' 

"Do  about  what?" 

"Well,  if  you  win  clear  from  this  present 
rather  doubtful  proposition — and  we  're  backing 
you  in  that  for  all  we're  worth,  ain't  we,  girls? 
— you're  tied  up  to  a  wife  whom  you  don't 
know,  and  I  guess  the  one  place  in  which  you're 
likely  to  find  her  is  off  the  map  for  you  for 
keeps." 

"I'm  not  versed  in  the  law,"  laughed  Mase- 
den, "but  it  will  be  a  queer  thing  if  I  should 
be  compelled  to  regard  myself  as  married  to  a 
lady  whom  I  have  seen,  certainly,  but  do  not 
want. ' ' 

"How  do  you  know  you  don't  want  her?" 

' '  I  know  nothing  whatsoever  about  her. ' ' 

"That's  just  it.  That's  where  you  may  be 
hipped.  She  may  be  a  peach,  the  finest  ever. 
Suppose,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  one  of  these 
two,  Miss  Madge  or  Miss  Nina — " 


TEE  VIGIL  175 

"The  lady's  name  happened  to  be  Made- 
leine," put  in  Madge  instantly.  "If  the  cere- 
mony was  meant  to  be  valid  she  would  undoubt- 
edly sign  her  right  name." 

* '  Just  so.    You  missed  my  point. ' ' 

Maseden  thought  it  advisable  to  come  to  the 
rescue.  He  had  conveyed  to  the  one  vitally  in- 
terested listener  that  her  secret  was  safe  for  the 
time,  and  this  should  suffice. 

"I  am  inclined  to  think  that  I  shall  be  proof 
against  my  nominal  wife's  charms,  no  matter 
how  great  they  may  be,"  he  said  emphatically. 
"There  is  a  romantic  side  to  the  affair,  I  ad- 
mit, but  I  cannot  blind  myself  to  the  fact  that 
it  possesses  a  prosaic  one  as  well.  Association 
with  a  skunk  like  Steinbaum  is  hardly  the  best 
of  credentials,  in  the  first  place.  Secondly,  one 
asks  what  motive  any  woman  could  have  in 
wishing  to  marry  a  man  condemned  to  die.  I'm 
not  flattering  myself  that  my  personal  quali- 
fications carried  much  weight. 

"Admittedly,  the  lady  wanted  to  wed  because 
I  was  about  to  disappear.  I  give  her  the  credit 
of  believing  that  she  would  never  have  gone 
through  with  the  farce  if  she  had  the  least  rea- 
son to  think  that  I  would  not  be  dead  within  the 
next  half  hour.  But  the  fact  remains  that  she 
was  callous  and  calculating — whether  to  serve 
her  own  ends  or  some  other  person's  is  imma- 
terial. .  .  .  No,  Mr.  Sturgess ;  when,  if  ever,  I 


176  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

choose  a  wife,  it  is  long  odds  against  her  name 
being  Madeleine." 

Nina  Forbes  laughed,  though  her  teeth  chat- 
tered with  the  cold. 

* '  The  calm  way  in  which  men  speak  of  '  choos- 
ing' a  wife  always  amuses  me/'  she  said.  "If 
any  man  told  me  he  had  'chosen'  me  I  should 
feel  inclined  to  box  his  ears." 

"It  isn't  the  best  of  words,"  put  in  Sturgess 
promptly,  "but  it  conveys  a  real  compliment. 
A  fellow  meets  a  girl,  the  girl,  and  some  electri- 
cal arrangement  jangles  at  the  back  of  his  head. 
'This  is  it/  says  a  voice.  'Go  to  it,  good  and 
hard,'  and  he  goes.  That's  the  only  sort  of 
choice  he's  given.  The  girl  can  always  turn 
him  down,  you  know.  Still,  she  can 't  help  feel- 
ing flattered.  She  says  to  herself,  'That  poor 
fellow,  Charles  K.  Sturgess,  is  only  a  mutt,  but 
he  did  think  me  the  best  ever,  so  he  had  good 
taste.'  What  do  you  think,  Miss  Madge?" 

Then  he  and  the  others  discovered  that 
Madge  was  crying.  The  frivolous  chatter  in- 
tended to  hide  a  dread  reality  had  failed  in  its 
object.  They  were  shivering  with  cold  again, 
and  ever  more  conscious  of  gnawing  hunger. 
The  prospect  of  escape  was  more  than  doubt- 
ful. Fate  seemed  to  be  playing  a  pitiless  game 
with  every  soul  on  board  the  Southern  Cross, 
having  swept  some  to  instant  death,  while  re- 
taining others  for  destruction  by  idle  whim. 


THE  VIGIL  177 

The  renewed  darkness,  the  continuous  uproar 
of  the  reef,  had  broken  the  girl's  nerve. 

Maseden  fancied  that  he  had  placed  too  great 
a  strain  on  her  by  detailing  with  such  precision 
the  sequence  of  events  during  those  crowded 
hours  at  Cartagena. 

"I  think,"  he  said  gravely,  "that  we  ought 
to  lie  down  again,  and  await  patiently  the  com- 
ing of  daylight.  The  sun  rises,  no  matter  what 
else  may  happen,  and  dawn  cannot  be  long  de- 
layed now." 

They  obeyed  him.  They  looked  to  him  for 
guidance,  but  they  were  glad  he  did  not  call  for 
any  effort.  Even  the  light-hearted,  apparently 
irresponsible  Sturgess,  who,  if  he  had  to  die, 
would  depart  this  life  with  a  jest  on  his  lips, 
was  stilled  by  the  sheer  hopelessness  of  their 
condition. 

After  one  of  those  hours  which  seem  to  be- 
long to  eternity  rather  than  to  time,  a  quality 
of  grayness  made  itself  felt  in  the  overwhelm- 
ing gloom.  Soon  the  serrated  edge  of  the  oppo- 
site wall  of  rock  became  a  fixed  and  rigid  thing 
against  a  background  of  cloud.  In  this  new 
world  of  horror  and  suffering  the  break  of  day, 
to  all  appearances,  came  from  the  west ! 

This  phenomenon  was  easily  explained.  Near 
by,  on  the  east,  rose  the  tremendous  peaks  of 
the  Andes,  so  the  plain  of  the  sea  on  the  western 
horizon  caught  the  first  shafts  of  light  long  be- 


178  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

fore  they  filtered  into  the  fiords  and  gorges  of 
the  coast-line  tucked  in  at  the  base  of  those 
great  hills. 

Not  that  it  mattered  a  jot  to  those  desolate 
ones  where  the  snn  rose  that  day.  They  would 
have  given  little  heed  had  the  earth  rolled  over 
on  a  new  axis,  and  dawn  come  from  the  South 
Pole! 

As  soon  as  daylight  was  sufficiently  advanced 
to  render  the  rock  fissures  clearly  visible, 
Maseden  roused  his  tiny  flock  from  the  stupor 
of  sheer  exhaustion.  He  was  a  man  born  to 
lead,  and  the  necessity  to  spur  on  and  exhort 
others  proved  his  own  salvation.  He  was  stiff 
and  sore,  and  his  head  still  ached  abominably, 
but  he  rose  to  his  feet  with  an  energetic 
shout  that  quickened  the  blood  in  his  hearers* 
veins. 

"Now,  folk,"  he  said,  "the  first  order  of  the 
day  is  breakfast,  and  then  strike  camp ! ' ' 

Breakfast !  They  thought  he  was  crazy.  But 
he  took  the  bottle  of  brandy  from  a  crevice  in 
which  he  had  lodged  it  securely  overnight,  and 
Sturgess  uttered  a  cackling  laugh. 

"I'm  doing  pretty  well  for  a  life-long  tee- 
totaller," he  wheezed.  "When  a  fellow  like  me 
falls  off  the  water-wagon,  he  generally  drops 
with  a  dull  thud,  but  7  must  have  set  up  a  rec- 
ord. After  lunching  and  dining  yesterday  on 
claret,  I  supped  on  brandy  last  night  and  am 


THE  VIGIL  179 

about  to  breakfast  on  the  same.  .  .  .  Girls, 
help  yourself  and  pass  the  decanter!" 

Maseden  held  up  the  bottle  to  the  light.  It 
had  never  contained  more  than  a  pint,  and 
nearly  half  had  gone.  A  small  coin  served  as 
a  measure  to  divide  the  contents  into  five  por- 
tions. 

"Each  of  us  drinks  a  peseta-worth,"  he  said. 
"There  must  be  neither  half  measures  nor  ex- 
tra ones.  The  last  peseta-worth  remains  in  the 
bottle.  Is  that  agreed ! ' ' 

"I  want  very  little,  please,"  said  Nina 
Forbes.  "Just  enough  to  moisten  my  lips  and 
tongue — " 

"You're  going  to  do  as  you're  bid,"  was  the 
gruff  answer.  "I  advise  you  to  sip  your  por- 
tion, by  all  means,  but  you  must  take  it.  As  a 
penalty  for  disobedience,  you'll  start." 

She  made  no  further  protest,  but  swallowed 
her  dose  meekly.  Sister  Madge  followed.  Stur- 
gess  was  minded  to  argue,  but  met  Maseden 's 
dour  glance,  and  took  his  share.  The  first 
mouthful  of  the  spirit  acted  on  him  like  an  elixir 
of  life.  He  drank  down  to  the  allotted  mark, 
and  handed  the  bottle  to  Maseden. 

"Now,  girls,"  he  chortled,  "this  is  the  guy 
who  really  needs  watching.  If  he  doesn't  play 
fair  let's  heave  him  into  the  sea." 

So  three  pairs  of  eyes  saw  to  it  that  their 
rescuer  had  his  full  allowance.  Then  the  bottle 


180  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

was  put  away,  and  the  castaways  took  stock 
of  their  surroundings. 

At  first  sight  the  position  was  grotesquely 
disheartening.  Beneath,  to  the  left,  was  the 
sea.  Behind  them  rose  an  overhanging  wall  of 
rock,  which  swung  round  to  the  right  and  cut 
off  the  ledge.  The  cleft  itself  was  some  twelve 
feet  wide,  and  the  opposite  wall  rose  fully  ten 
feet.  In  a  word,  no  chamois  or  mountain  goat 
could  have  made  the  transit. 

They  all  surveyed  the  situation  from  every 
point  of  view  afforded  by  the  fifteen  feet  of 
ledge.  There  was  no  reason  to  express  opin- 
ions. Escape,  in  any  direction,  looked  frankly 
impossible. 

Then  Maseden  examined  the  cleft  beneath. 

"We  cannot  go  up,"  he  said  quietly.  "In 
that  case,  as  we  certainly  don't  mean  to  stay 
here,  I'm  going  down." 

It  was  feasible,  with  care,  to  climb  down  to 
sea  level,  but  the  huge  rollers  breaking  over 
the  reef  sent  a  heavy  back-wash  against  the 
cliff.  The  swirl  of  water  rose  and  fell  three  feet 
at  a  time,  with  enough  force  to  throw  the 
strongest  man  off  his  balance. 

"Do  you  mean  that  you  intend  jumping  into 
the  sea,  Mr.  Maseden?"  said  Madge  Forbes. 

She  was  quite  calm  now.  She  put  that  vital 
question  as  coolly  as  though  it  implied  nothing 
more  than  a  swimmer's  pastime.  Their  eyes 


TEE  VIGIL  181 

clashed,  and,  for  the  first  time,  the  man  saw 
that  Madge  possessed  no  small  share,  of  Nina's 
self-control.  Her  earlier  collapse  was  of  the 
body,  not  of  the  soul. 

"It  doesn't  mean  that  I  shall  willingly  com- 
mit suicide,"  he  answered.  "If  it  comes  to 
that,  I  suggest  that  we  all  go  together.  I'm 
merely  taking  a  prospecting  trip.  There's  no 
way  out  above.  I  must  see  what  offers  below.'7 

Without  another  word  he  sat  on  the  lip  of  the 
rock  on  which  they  stood,  and  lowered  himself 
to  a  tiny  ledge  which  gave  foothold.  They 
watched  him  making  his  way  down.  It  was  no 
easy  climb,  but  he  did  not  hurry.  Twice  he  ad- 
vanced, and  climbed  a  little  higher  to  a  point 
whence  descent  was  more  practicable.  At  last 
he  vanished. 

Sturgess,  craning  his  neck  over  the  seaward 
side  of  their  narrow  perch,  could  not  see  him, 
while  the  growl  of  the  reef  shut  out  all  minor 
sounds. 

Maseden  was  not  long  absent,  but  the  three 
people  whom  he  had  left  confessed  afterwards 
that  of  all  the  nerve-racking  experiences  they 
had  undergone  since  the  ship  struck,  that  silent 
waiting  was  the  worst. 

At  last  he  reappeared.  Nina,  farthest  up  the 
cleft,  was  the  first  to  see  him,  and  she  cried 
shrilly : 

"Oh,  thank  God!    He's  got  a  rope!" 


182  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

A  rope!  Of  what  avail  was  a  rope?  Yet 
three  hearts  thrilled  with  great  expectation. 
Why  should  Maseden  bring  a  rope?  It  meant 
something,  some  plan,  some  definite  means  to- 
wards the  one  great  object.  They  had  an 
abounding  faith  in  him. 

The  rope  was  slung  around  his  shoulders  in 
a  noose,  and  he  seemed  to  be  tugging  at  some 
heavy  weight  which  yielded  but  slowly  to  the 
strain.  When  he  was  still  below  the  level  of 
the  ledge  he  undid  the  noose  and  passed  it  to 
Sturgess. 

"Hold  tight!"  he  shouted.  "I've  picked  up 
the  broken  foremast.  I'm  going  down  to  clear 
it  off  the  rocks.  When  I  yell,  haul  away 
steadily. ' ' 

They  asked  no  questions.  Maseden  simply 
must  be  right.  They  listened  eagerly  for  the 
signal,  and  put  all  their  strength  to  the  task 
when  it  came. 

Soon  the  truck  of  the  foremast  appeared. 
Then  the  full  length  of  the  spar  could  be  seen, 
with  Maseden  guiding  it.  He  had  tied  the  rope 
at  a  point  about  one-third  of  the  length  from 
the  truck.  When  it  was  poised  so  that  lifting 
alone  was  required  he  shouted  to  them  to  stop, 
and  rejoined  them,  breathless,  but  bright- 
eyed. 

"There's  no  means  of  escape  by  the  sea," 
he  explained,  "so  we  must  try  the  cliff.  This 


THE  VIGIL  183 

is  our  bridge.  I  think  it  will  span  the  gully. 
Anyhow,  it  is  worth  trying." 

Then  they  understood,  and  measuring  glances 
were  cast  from  spar  to  opposing  crest.  It  would 
be  a  close  thing,  but,  as  Maseden  said,  it  was 
certainly  worth  trying. 

In  a  minute,  or  less,  the  broken  mast  was 
standing  up-ended  on  the  ledge.  Then,  with  its 
base  jammed  into  a  crevice,  it  was  lowered  by 
the  rope  across  the  chasm.  It  just  touched  the 
top  of  the  rock  wall. 

They  actually  cheered,  but  the  women's 
hearts  missed  a  couple  of  beats  when  Maseden 
began  to  climb  again.  He  worked  his  way  up- 
ward without  haste,  found  a  toe-grip  on  the 
rock,  raised  himself  carefully,  and  again  dis- 
appeared from  sight. 

This  time  he  was  not  so  long  away.  He 
looked  down  on  them  with  a  confident  smile. 

"There's  a  chance,"  he  said.  "A  ghost  of 
a  chance.  Now  I'm  coming  back!" 


CHAPTEE   XI 

PROGRESS 

WHEN  he  stood  beside  them  once  more  on 
the  ledge  he  told  them  what  he  had  seen. 

1  'It's  a  fortress  of  rock  up  there,  and  noth- 
ing else,"  he  said.  "We  may  have  to  climb 
at  least  a  couple  of  hundred  feet.  Have  any  of 
you  ever  done  any  Alpine  work?" 

No;  they  knew  nothing  of  the  perils  or  de- 
lights of  mountaineering. 

"I'm  in  the  same  boat,"  he  confessed,  "but 
I've  read  a  lot  about  it,  and  I've  noticed  one 
thing  in  our  favor — the  pitch  of  the  strata  is 
downward  towards  the  land,  and  that  kind  of 
rock  face  gives  the  best  and  safest  foothold. 
Moreover,  this  cleft,  or  fault,  seems  to  continue 
a  long  way  up. 

"Now,  we  haven't  a  minute  to  spare.  Each 
hour  will  find  us  weaker.  The  weather,  too,  is 
clear,  and  the  rock  fairly  dry,  but  wind  and 
rain,  or  fog,  would  prove  our  worst  enemies. 
There  is  plenty  of  cordage  down  below.  I'll 
gather  all  within  reach.  It  may  prove  useful." 

He  seemed  to  have  no  more  to  say,  and  was 
stooping  to  begin  the  descent  when  Sturgess 
grabbed  him  by  the  shoulder. 

184 


PROGRESS  185 

"Wait  a  second,  commodore!"  he  cried. 
"You've  got  your  job  cut  out,  and  I'll  obey  or- 
ders and  keep  a  close  tongue,  you  bet ;  but  when 
it  comes  to  collecting  rope  lengths,  that  is  my 
particular  stunt,  as  I  sell  hemp,  among  other 
things.  You  just  rest  up  a  while. ' ' 

Maseden  nodded,  and  made  way  for  a  willing 
deputy.  It  was  only  fit  and  proper  that  he,  too> 
should  conserve  his  energies. 

"  'Bound  the  corner  to  the  left,"  he  said, 
"you'll  find  a  sloping  rock.  Some  wreckage 
is  lodged  in  an  eddy  alongside  it.  Secure  the 
cordage,  and  any  other  odds  and  ends  you  think 
useful.  Shin  up  here  with  a  few  rope  lengths 
at  once.  I  want  them  straight  away.  Have 
you  a  strong  knife?" 

Yes,  Sturgess  luckily  did  possess  a  service- 
able knife.  By  the  time  he  had  handed  over  a 
number  of  rope  strands  Maseden,  helped  by  the 
girls,  had  hauled  back  the  mast,  to  which  he 
began  attaching  short  loops,  or  stirrups,  about 
two  feet  apart.  He  did  not  expect  that  either 
Madge  Forbes  or  her  sister  would  be  able  to 
climb  the  mast,  and  it  was  almost  a  sheer  im- 
possibility that  he  and  Sturgess  should  carry 
them  time  and  again.  So  the  mast,  after  serv- 
ing twice  as  a  bridge,  was  now  to  become  a  lad- 
der. 

Sturgess  returned  with  a  curiously  mixed 
spoil — a  good  deal  of  rope,  a  sou'wester,  a  long, 


186  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

thin  line — probably  the  whip  used  to  establish 
the  connection  between  bridge  and  forecas- 
tle while  parts  of  the  Southern  Cross  still  held 
together — and  the  ship's  flag,  the  ensign 
which  was  flying  at  the  poop  when  the  ship 
struck. 

Water  was  dripping  off  him.  Evidently  he 
had  either  been  caught  by  a  sea  or  had  slipped 
off  a  rock. 

"Accident?"  inquired  Maseden. 

"Not  quite.  I  had  to  risk  something  to  get 
these,"  and  he  produced  from  his  pockets  a 
dozen  large  oysters. 

No  party  of  gourmets  ever  sat  down  to  a 
feast  with  greater  zest  than  those  four  hungry 
people.  Probably,  in  view  of  the  labors  and 
hardships  they  were  yet  fated  to  undergo,  the 
oysters  saved  their  lives.  There  is  no  knowing. 
Human  endurance  can  be  stretched  to  surpris- 
ing limits,  but,  seeing  that  they  were  destined 
to  taste  no  other  food  during  twelve  long  hours 
of  arduous  exertion,  the  value  of  Sturgess's  , 
find  can  hardly  be  overrated. 

The  oysters  were  of  a  really  excellent  species, 
though  under  the  circumstances  they  were  sure 
to  be  palatable,  no  matter  what  their  actual 
qualities. 

"I  suppose  I  need  hardly  ask  if  there  are 
any  more  to  be  had?"  inquired  Maseden,  when 
the  meal  was  dispatched. 


PROGRESS  187 

"No,  sir,"  grinned  Sturgess. 

He  left  it  at  that,  but  the  others  realized  that 
he  had  probably  risked  his  life  more  than  once 
in  the  effort  to  secure  even  that  modest  sup- 
ply. 

The  meal,  slight  though  it  was,  not  only  gave 

them  a  new  strength — it  brought  hope.  If  only 
they  could  win  a  way  to  the  interior,  and  reach 
the  land-locked  waters  of  the  bay  which  opened 
up  behind  the  frowning  barrier  they  must  yet 
scale,  in  all  likelihood  they  would  at  least  ob- 
tain a  plentiful  store  of  shell-fish. 

Nina  Forbes  uttered  a  quaint  little  laugh  as 
she  threw  the  last  empty  shell  on  to  the  rocks 
beneath. 

"Now,"  she  said,  "I  am  quite  ready  for  the 
soup  and  a  joint." 

"Oh,  don't  be  horrid!"  cried  Madge. 
"You've  gone  and  made  me  feel  ravenous 
again. ' ' 

"He,  or  she,  who  would  eat  must  first  labor," 
said  Maseden.  "Thanks  to  friend  Sturgess, 
we've  enjoyed  a  first-rate  snack.  I've  never 
sampled  manna,  but  I'll  back  the  proteids  in 
three  fat  oysters  against  those  in  a  pound  of 
manna  any  day.  Now,  let's  get  to  business. 
If  I'm  not  mistaken  we're  going  to  tackle  a 
stiff  proposition." 

He  knotted  some  stout  cord  around  his  own 
waist  and  that  of  each  of  the  others,  and  slung 


188  HIS  UNKNdWN  WIFE 

the  longest  available  coil  over  his  shoulders. 
Then  the  mast  was  fixed  in  its  place  across 
the  ravine,  and  he  climbed  to  the  opposite 
crest  by  straddling  the  pole,  putting  his  feet 
in  the  loops,  and  pulling  himself  up  by  both 
hands. 

Throwing  back  the  rope,  he  told  Sturgess  to 
see  that  it  was  fastened  securely  to  one  of  the 
girls  on  the  belt  already  in  position.  He  pur- 
posely refrained  from  specifying  which  one. 
By  chance,  Madge  Forbes  stood  nearest,  and  it 
was  she  who  came. 

The  crossing  was  awkward  rather  than  dan- 
gerous, and  rendered  far  more  difficult  by  the 
fact  that  the  unwilling  acrobat  was  compelled 
to  expose  her  naked  limbs.  But  after  the  first 
shock  common  sense  came  to  her  aid,  and  she 
straightway  abandoned  any  useless  effort  to  ob- 
serve the  conventions. 

Still,  she  blushed  furiously,  and  was  trem- 
bling when  Maseden  caught  her  hands  and 
helped  her  to  land. 

"Thank  Heaven  we've  kept  our  boots,"  he 
said,  unfastening  the  rope.  "Just  look  at  the 
ground  we  have  to  cover,  and  think  what  it 
would  mean  if  our  feet  were  bare. ' ' 

The  comment  was  merely  one  of  those  mat- 
ter-of-fact bits  of  philosophy  which  are  most 
effective  in  the  major  crises  of  life.  It  was  so 
true  that  a  display  of  leg  or  ankle  mattered 


PROGRESS  189 

little  afterwards.  Nevertheless,  a  similar  or- 
deal caused  Nina  to  blush,  too,  but  she  laughed 
when  Madge  cried  ruefully : 

"What  in  the  world  has  happened  to  my 
ankles  f  They  are  scrubbed  and  bruised  dread- 
fully." 

4 'That  was  last  night's  treatment,  my  dear," 
said  her  sister.  "I  escaped  more  lightly  than 
you." 

"But  what  do  you  mean?  I  felt  some  sore- 
ness, but  imagined  I  knocked  myself  in  coming- 
from  the  wreck." 

"You  were  in  a  dead  faint,  so  Mr.  Maseden 
and  Mr.  Sturgess  massaged  you  unmercifully." 

Madge  surveyed  damages  again. 

"I  must  have  been  very  bad  if  I  stood  that,.'* 
she  said. 

"You'll  be  worse  before  we  see  the  other  side 
of  this  cliff,"  murmured  Nina,  casting  a  criti- 
cal eye  over  the  precipitous  ground  in  front. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  the  girls '  hearts 
quailed  at  the  sight.  They  were  standing  on  a 
sloping  terrace,  of  no  great  depth,  which  ended 
abruptly  at  the  foot  of  a  towering  cliff.  A 
little  to  the  right  ran  the  line  of  the  cleft,  but 
so  forbidding  was  its  appearance,  and  so  ap- 
parently unscalable  its  broken  ledges,  that  the 
same  thought  occurred  to  each — what  if  they 
had  but  left  a  narrow,  sheltered  prison  for  a 
wider  and  more  exposed  one? 


190  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Maseden,  however,  allowed  no  time  for  reflec- 
tion. He  and  Sturgess  had  already  dragged 
the  foremast  after  them,  and  were  shouldering 
it  in  the  direction  of  the  first  hump  of  rock 
which  seemed  to  offer  a  way  into  the  cleft.  Any 
other  route  was  absolutely  impossible. 

After  one  last  glance  at  the  reef  which  had 
slain  a  gallant  ship  and  so  many  lives,  they 
quitted  the  ledge  which  had  proved  their  salva- 
tion. It  was  then  five  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
At  four  o'clock  that  afternoon  they  flung  them- 
selves, utterly  spent,  on  a  carpet  of  thick  moss 
which  coated  the  landward  slope  of  the  most 
westerly  point  of  Hanover  Island. 

Their  hands  and  knees  were  torn  and  bleed- 
ing, their  fingernails  broken,  their  bones  ach- 
ing and  their  eyes  bloodshot.  But  they  had 
triumphed,  though  many  a  time  it  had  seemed 
that  if  Providence  meant  to  be  kind,  an  ava- 
lanche of  loose  stones  or  a  slip  on  treacherous 
shale  would  have  hurled  them  to  speedy  death 
on  the  rocks  beneath. 

On  five  separate  occasions  they  had  found 
themselves  strung  out  on  a  narrow  ledge  which 
merged  to  nothingness  in  the  sheer  wall  of  a 
precipice.  Five  times  had  they  to  go  back  and 
essay  a  different  path,  often  beginning  again 
fifty  or  even  a  hundred  feet  below  the  point 
they  had  reached.  They  were  obliged  to  drag 
or  carry  the  heavy  topmast  every  inch  of  the 


PROGRESS  191 

way,  because,  without  its  aid,  either  as  a  bridge 
or  a  ladder,  they  could  never  have  surmounted 
a  tithe  of  the  obstacles  encountered. 

In  those  eleven  awful  hours  they  had  climbed 

.not  two,  but  five  hundred  feet,  a  distance  which, 

on  the  level,  a  good  runner  would  traverse  in 

about  twenty  seconds,  whereas  it  took  them  an 

average  of  a  minute  to  climb  one  foot. 

The  marvel  was  that  the  women  could  have 
done  it  at  all,  even  with  the  help  which  both 
men  gave  unstintedly.  During  the  last  weary 
hours  no  one  uttered  an  unnecessary  word. 
Each  of  the  four  was  determined  to  go  on,  not 
for  his  or  her  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
others.  They  were  roped  together.  If  one  fell, 
it  meant  disaster  to  all.  So,  with  splendid  grit, 
each  resolved  not  to  fall  so  long  as  hand  would 
hold  or  foot  lodge  on  the  tiniest  projection. 

But,  with  final  success,  came  utter  collapse. 
Even  Maseden,  far  stronger  physically  than 
Sturgess,  fell  like  a  log.  True,  he  had  borne 
far  more  than  his  share  of  the  day's  toil.  No 
matter  what  his  inmost  thoughts,  he  had  never, 
to  outward  seeming,  lost  heart.  It  was  he  who 
always  found  the  new  line,  he  who  earliest  de- 
cided to  turn  back  and  try  again. 

It  was  he,  too,  who  called  now  for  renewed 
exertion  after  some  minutes  of  complete  and 
blissful  repose. 

''Sorry  to  disturb  your  siesta,"  he  cried,  with 


192  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

a  woful  assumption  of  cheery  confidence,  "but 
we  must  reach  the  shore,  if  possible,  before 
night  falls.  Oysters  and  Chablis  await  us  there. 
En  avant,  messieurs  et  'dames!" 

Nina  Forbes  sat  up  and  brushed  the  hair  from, 
her  eyes. 

"I  don't  think  I  can  walk  another  yard. 
Won't  you  leave  me  here?"  she  demanded. 

"No." 

"Are  we  to  carry  that  mast  with  us?" 

"Why  not?    We  may  need  it." 

Her  eyes  followed  Maseden's  down  the  slope. 
Compared  with  the  sullen,  frowning  realm  of 
rock  they  had  quitted,  this  eastern  side  of  the 
island  resembled  a  Paradise.  The  moss  on 
which  they  were  resting  was  thick  and  wiry. 
A  hundred  feet  beneath  were  fir-trees,  sparse 
and  stunted  at  first,  but  soon  growing  luxu- 
riantly, yet  promising,  to  Maseden's  weighing 
eye,  a  barrier  nearly  as  formidable  as  the  fear- 
some wall  of  rock  they  had  just  surmounted. 

He  knew  that  which  was  happily  hidden  from 
the  others.  In  this  wild  land,  seldom,  if  ever, 
trodden  by  the  foot  of  man,  the  forests  throve 
on  the  bones  of  their  own  dead  progenitors. 
Aged  trees  fell  and  rotted  where  they  lay,  and 
the  roots  of  newcomers  found  substance  among 
the  heaped-up  logs.  Gales  and  landslides 
helped  to  swell  the  mad  jumble  of  decaying 
trunks,  which  formed  an  impassable  layer 


PROGRESS  193 

hardly  ever  less  than  fifteen  feet  in  depth  and 
often  going  beyond  thirty  feet. 

Of  the  two,  Maseden  believed  he  would  sooner 
tackle  another  wall  of  rock  rather  than  essay 
to  cross  that  belt  of  fantastic  growths. 

But,  down  there  was  water — perhaps  food — 
certainly  shelter.  He  guessed  that  at  an  alti- 
tude where  hardy  Alpine  mosses  alone  flour- 
ished the  cold  would  be  intense  at  night.  Al- 
ready there  was  a  shrewd  nip  in  the  breeze. 
They  must  not  dawdle  another  instant. 

He  made  up  his  mind  to  head  for  a  gap  in 
the  trees  which  seemed  to  mark  a  recent  land- 
slip, and  trust  to  fortune  that  the  gradient 
might  not  be  too  steep.  Better  any  open  risk 
than  the  fall  of  perhaps  the  whole  party  into  a 
pit  of  dead  wood  choked  with  foetid  and  noi- 
some fungus  growths.  Once  caught  in  such  a 
trap,  they  might  never  emerge. 

And  now  they  met  with  their  greatest  among 
many  pieces  of  luck  that  day.  The  opening 
Maseden  had  noticed  was  not  the  track  of  an 
avalanche,  but  a  rough  water-course,  through 
which  the  torrential  rain-storms  of  the  coast 
tumbled  headlong  to  the  sea. 

Notwithstanding  the  long-continued  gale,  the 
descent  was  so  steep  that  only  a  vestige  of  a 
stream  trickled  down  the  main  gully.  Here  and 
there  lay  a  pool.  Though  the  water  was  brack- 
ish, it  was  strongly  pigmented  with  iron,  and 


194  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  roots  of  vigorous  yonng  trees  seemed  to 
find  sustenance  in  it. 

At  any  rate,  they  must  drink  or  die,  so  they 
drank,  though  Maseden  warned  them  to  be  mod- 
erate. They  laved  their  wounds,  which  were 
intensely  sore  at  first,  owing  to  the  encrusta- 
tion of  salt  on  their  skins.  But  here,  again, 
nature's  surgery,  if  painful,  was  effective.  Salt 
is  a  rough  and  ready  antiseptic.  None  of  them 
owned  any  real  medical  knowledge.  In  their 
hard  case  ignorance  was  surely  bliss,  because 
they  must  have  had  the  narrowest  of  escapes 
from  tetanus. 

The  descent,  though  trying,  was  not  specially 
perilous.  Three  times  did  the  mast  bring  them 
down  small  cataracts,  and  many  times  across 
extraordinarily  ingenious  log  barriers,  set  up 
against  the  stress  of  falling  water  by  nature's 
own  engineering  methods. 

Once,  indeed,  a  heavy  boulder,  poised  in  un- 
expected balance,  toppled  over  just  as  they 
had  reached  the  base  of  a  waterfall.  It  would 
have  crushed  Nina  Forbes  to  a  pulp  had  not 
Maseden  seen  the  stone  move.  As  it  was,  he 
snatched  her  aside,  and  a  ton  of  rock  crashed 
harmlessly  on  to  the  very  spot  where  she  had 
been  standing  the  fifth  part  of  a  second  earlier. 

Such  an  incident,  happening  in  civilized  sur- 
roundings, would  have  been  regarded  as  phe- 
nomenal, something  akin  to  an  escape  from  a 


PROGRESS  195 

train  wreck.  Here  it  passed  as  a  mere  item  in 
the  day's  trials.  It  did  not  even  shake  the 
girl's  nerve. 

"I  suppose  I  ought  to  say  'thank  you,'  but 
I'm  not  quite  sure  you  have  done  me  a  service," 
she  murmured  wearily. 

Hitherto  both  she  and  her  sister  had  been  so 
brave,  so  uncomplaining,  that  Maseden  took 
warning  from  the  words.  The  two  girls  were 
at  the  extreme  limit  of  their  powers  of  endur- 
ance, mentally  and  physically.  It  was  five 
o  'clock  in  the  evening.  After  a  day  and  a  night 
of  passive  misery  they  had  been  subjected  to 
every  sort  of  muscular  strain  during  nearly 
twelve  hours,  and  might  collapse  at  any  moment 
now. 

"Courage!"  he  said,  with  a  gentleness  curi- 
ously in  contrast  with  the  rather  gruff:  and  hec- 
toring manner  he  had  adopted  all  day.  "You 
haven't  noticed  how  near  the  sea  is.  We  shall 
be  on  shore  in  a  few  minutes." 

The  girl's  lips  parted  in  a  wan  smile. 

"You  are  wonderful,"  was  all  she  said,  but 
the  pathos  underlying  the  tribute  wrung  his 
heart. 

Somehow,  anyhow,  they  slithered  and 
dropped  down  the  remaining  steps  of  their  Cal- 
vary. During  the  last  few  feet  they  were  able 
to  leave  behind  the  friendly  topmast,  but  the 
shadows  were  falling  when  they  stood,  for- 


196  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

lornly  triumphant,  on  the  flat  rocks  which 
served  as  the  beach  of  the  estuary. 

The  two  girls  sank  at  once  to  a  moss-covered 
Moulder.  They  looked  so  deathly  white  beneath 
the  tan  of  exposure  and  the  crust  of  dirt  and 
blood  not  altogether  removed  when  they  bathed 
their  faces  in  the  pool,  that  Maseden  unstrapped 
the  poncho  which  he  carried  slung  to  his  shoul- 
ders and  produced  from  its  folds  that  thrice- 
precious  bottle  of  brandy. 

The  patients  weakly  resisted  his  demand  that 
they  should  share  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
mouthful  of  spirit  which  remained ;  but  he  was 
firm,  and  they  drank.  Sturgess,  who  staggered 
and  nearly  fell  when  he  tried  to  move  after  the 
brief  halt,  was  given  a  few  drops;  Maseden 
himself  had  what  was  left.  Then  he  filled 
the  bottle  with  water,  and  each  took  a  long 
drink. 

There  is  this  supreme  virtue  in  water,  that, 
while  slaking  thirst,  it  stays  the  worst  pangs  of 
hunger,  and  Maseden  had  enough  strength  in 
reserve  to  hurry  off  in  search  of  oysters,  or  any 
sort  of  shell-fish,  before  daylight  failed  wholly. 
He  was  fortunate  in  finding  a  well-stocked  bed 
almost  at  once. 

He  alone  knew  what  agony  he  endured  when 
his  bruised  and  torn  fingers  were  plunged  into 
ice-cold  salt  water.  But  he  persevered,  and 
gathered  such  a  quantity  that  in  ten  minutes  he 


PROGRESS  197 

and  his  companions  were  enjoying  a  really  sat- 
isfying meal. 

While  they  ate,  they  examined  their  sur- 
roundings. It  was  half  tide.  A  bleak,  rocky 
foreshore  provided  at  least  an  ideal  breeding- 
ground  for  oysters.  Behind  them  rose  the  sol- 
emn bank  of  pine-trees  through  which  they  had 
come.  On  the  right,  only  half  a  mile  away, 
stood  the  great  shoulder  of  rock  which  shut 
out  the  Pacific  on  that  northern  side  of  the 
estuary.  In  front,  two  miles  or  more  distant, 
lay  a  jumble  of  forests  and  wild  hills,  and  a 
similar  vista  spread  far  to  the  left,  because  the 
estuary  widened  to  a  span  of  several  miles. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  wild,  desolate,  awe-inspiring 
land,  a  territory  abandoned  of  mankind!  In 
such  regions  old-time  sailors  found  fearsome 
monsters,  amphibious  reptiles  larger  than 
ships,  and  gnomes  of  demoniac  aspect. 

Such  visions  were  easy  to  conjure  up.  Nina 
Forbes  saw  one  now  in  the  dusk. 

"Oh,  what  is  that?'*  she  cried,  in  genuine 
alarm,  gazing  seaward  with  terror-laden  eyes. 

It  took  some  time  to  unmask  the  strange  deni- 
zen of  the  deep  which  she  had  discovered.  Three 
seals,  lying  in  a  row  on  a  flat  rock,  looked  re- 
markably like  the  accepted  pictures  of  a  sea- 
serpent,  but  the  illusion  was  destroyed  when 
one  of  the  creatures  dived,  followed,  in  turn, 
by  each  of  the  others,  in  one,  two,  three  order. 


198  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"We  must  rise  before  dawn  to-morrow,"  said 
Maseden.  ' '  Seals  are  good  to  eat.  You  and  I, 
Sturgess,  can  cut  one  off  when  the  pack  comes 
on  shore." 

"Seals  may  be  good  to  eat,  but  they  will  also 
be  hard  to  eat  if  we  are  unable  to  cook  them," 
put  in  Madge. 

'  *  There  were  times  to-day  when  I  could  have 
eaten  seal  cooked  or  uncooked,"  admitted  Nina. 

"Probably  such  times  will  recur  to-morrow," 
said  Maseden.  "You  will  soon  grow  tired  of 
oysters  for  every  meal.  Did  you  ever  hear  of 
the  sailing  ship  which  took  a  cargo  of  bottled 
porter  from  Dublin  to  Cape  Town?  After 
crossing  the  line  she  was  caught  in  a  gale,  dis- 
abled, and  carried  hundreds  of  miles  out  of  her 
course.  She  ran  short  of  water,  so,  during  three 
wretched  weeks,  officers  and  crew  drank  stout 
for  breakfast,  dinner  and  supper.  When,  at 
last,  the  vessel  reached  Table  Bay,  if  porter 
was  suggested  as  a  beverage  to  any  member 
of  the  ship's  company  there  was  instant  trou- 
ble." 

"Still,"  said  Madge  thoughfully,  "I  don't 
think  I  shall  like  raw  seal.  \  .  .  You  are  very 
clever,  Mr.  Maseden.  You  must  find  some 
means  of  making  a  fire. ' ' 

Maseden  glanced  up  at  the  darkening  sky. 

"At  present  the  pressing  problem  is  where 
are  we  to  sleep,"  he  said. 


PROGRESS  199 

"Under  the  deodars,"  suggested  Sturgess 
promptly. 

''Yes,  I  suppose  so.  But  we  must  make 
haste." 

*  *  If  you  ask  me  to  put  up  any  sort  of  hustle, 
I'll  crack  into  small  fragments,"  said  Sturgess, 
rising  to  his  feet  slowly  and  stiffly. 

But  this  young  American — a  typical  New 
Yorker  in  every  inch — was  blessed  with  a 
valiant  heart.  He  helped  Maseden  to  break  and 
cut  small  branches  of  the  fragrant  pines,  and 
pile  them  beneath  the  largest  tree  they  could 
find  on  a  comparatively  level  piece  of  ground 
above  high-water  mark.  The  two  girls  were 
half  carried  to  this  soft  couch,  which  invited 
sharp  comparison  with  the  wet,  slimy  rock  of 
the  previous  night. 

Despite  their  protests,  they  were  wrapped  in 
the  now  dry  ship's  flag  and  the  poncho,  while 
the  men  covered  themselves  with  the  oilskins, 
the  coat  which  Sturgess  had  found  on  the  reef 
coming  in  very  useful  for  Maseden. 

Then  they  slept.  And  how  they  slept !  The 
mere  fact  that  they  had  eaten  a  quantity  of  good 
food  induced  utter  weariness  and  exhaustion. 

During  the  night  it  rained  heavily,  and  the 
tide  pounded  fiercely  on  the  boulders  only  a 
few  feet  below  tjieir  resting-place.  But  they 
hardly  moved,  and  certainly  paid  no  heed. 

Maseden  was  awakened  by  a  veritable  cascade 


200  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

of  water  on  his  face;  the  tree,  after  the  man- 
ner of  its  kind,  though  shooting  the  rain  gen- 
erally off  its  layers  of  branches,  now  in  full 
summer  foliage,  provided  occasional  channels 
through  which  the  torrent  poured  as  from  a 
spout,  and  he  was  stretched  beneath  one.  He 
swore  softly,  saw  that  the  others  were  undis- 
turbed, moved  his  position  slightly,  and  fell 
sound  asleep  again. 

As  for  rising  betimes  to  catch  a  seal,  it  was 
broad  daylight  when  he  shook  off  the  almost 
overpowering  desire  to  go  on  sleeping. 

Nina  and  Madge  were  lying  in  each  other's 
arms,  breathing  easily,  and  looking  extraordi- 
narily well.  Beyond  them,  Sturgess  lay  like  a 
log,  his  clean-cut,  somewhat  cynical  features 
relaxed  in  a  smile.  It  was  a  pity  to  rouse  him, 
but  Maseden  saw  by  his  watch  that  they  had 
enjoyed  nine  hours  of  real  repose,  and,  as  the 
weather  was  fine  again  and  there  was  a  prom- 
ise of  sunshine,  it  behooved  them  to  be  up  and 
doing. 

So  he  shook  his  compatriot  gently  by  the 
shoulder,  and  Sturgess  was  awake  instantly. 

"Gosh!"  he  said,  gazing  at  a  patch  of  blue 
sky  overhead.  "I  was  just  ordering  clams  on 
ice  in  Louis  Martin's.  It  must  have  been  a 
memory  of  those  oysters." 

Maseden,  by  a  gesture,  warned  him  not  to 
speak  loudly,  whereupon  Sturgess  sat  up,  saw 


PROGRESS  201" 

the  two  girls,  grinned,  and  stole  quietly  after 
his  companion. 

"Say,"  he  confided,  when  at  a  safe  distance, 
"they're  the  limit,  aren't  they!" 

' '  They  're  all  right,  so  far  as  girls  go, ' '  agreed 
Maseden. 

' '  Oh,  come  off  your  perch !  Who  ever  loved 
that  loved  not  at  first  sight  I  If  we  win  through 
I'm  going  to  marry  Madge,  or  I'll  know  the 
reason  why,  and  if  you  have  half  the  gumption 
we  credit  you  with  you'll  tack  on  to  sister  Nina 
as  soon  as  you've  shunted  that  sporty  young 
person  who  grabbed  you  at  the  cannon's  mouth 
in  Cartagena." 

"Will  you  oblige  me  by  not  talking  such 
damn  nonsense!"  growled  Maseden,  blazing 
into  sudden  and  incomprehensible  wrath. 

"Calm  yourself,  hidalgo!"  came  the  quiet 
answer.  "Sorry  if  I've  butted  in  on  your  pri- 
vate affairs.  Having  fixed  things  for  myself,  I 
.  thought  I  'd  do  you  a  good  turn,  too.  That 's  all. ' ' 
,  "Don't  you  realize  that  you  are  hardly  play- 
ing the  game  by  even  hinting  at  such  possibili- 
ties in  present  conditions  ? ' ' 

Maseden  regretted  the  words  the  instant  they 
were  uttered.  Sturgess  stopped  as  though  he 
had  been  struck,  and  his  somewhat  sallow  face 
flushed  darkly. 

"It  will  be  a  pretty  mean  business  if  you  and 
I  manage  to  quarrel,  won't  it?"  he  said  thickly. 


CHAPTER  XH 

A    PEEP    INTO    THE    FUTTJBE 

"On,  forget  it!"  cried  Maseden,  more  angry 
now  with  himself  than  with  the  youngster  whose 
candor  had  provoked  this  outburst.  "I  didn't 
intend  to  be  offensive.  My  mind  was  running 
on  the  day's  worries.  We're  in  a  deuce  of  a 
fix,  and  I  can  see  no  way  out  of  it.  If  I  an- 
noyed you  by  a  careless  expression,  I  apolo- 
gize." 

"Rub  it  off  the  slate,  friend.  I  only  want  to 
put  in  a  first  bid  for  Madge,  so  to  speak." 

' '  But,  for  all  you  know,  she  may  be — engaged 
to  some  other  man,"  Maseden  could  not  help 
retorting. 

"Nix  on  the  other  fellow.  He's  not  on  in 
this  film.  I'll  have  him  beaten  to  a  frazzle  long 
before  I  see  good  old  New  York  again." 

Then  Maseden  did  contrive  to  choke  back  the 
very  obvious  comment  that  Madge  Forbes 
might  even  be  married  already.  Sufficient  for 
the  day  was  the  problem  thereof.  It  was  not 
matrimony  that  was  bothering  him,  though  the 
queer  marriage  tie  contracted  in  San  Juan 
seemed  fated  to  make  its  fetters  felt  even  in 

202 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   203 

the  wilderness.  He  was  wondering  what  would 
happen  if,  as  was  highly  probable,  they  were 
marooned  on  an  island  rarely  if  ever  visited 
by  man. 

He  laughed  grimly. 

"New  York  is  away  below  the  horizon  this 
morning,"  he  said.  " Let's  go  and  hunt  more 
oysters!" 

Still,  for  the  life  of  him  he  could  not  alto- 
gether get  rid  of  the  spectre  raised  by  Stur- 
gess's  almost  banal  candor.  The  New  Yorker 
was  unmistakably  a  good  fellow.  He  had  be- 
haved like  a  man  during  twenty-four  hours 
which  tested  one's  moral  fibre  as  pure  metal 
is  separated  from  dross  in  a  furnace.  Was  it 
quite  fair  that  he  should  be  kept  in  ignorance 
of  the  astounding  fact  that  Madge  Forbes,  and 
none  other,  was  the  heroine  of  that  extraordi- 
nary ceremony  in  the  Castle  of  San  Juan  I 

Why  not  tell  him?  There  was  every  reason 
to  believe  that  he  had  indulged  in  no  overt  love- 
making  as  yet.  Why  not  emulate  his  outspoken- 
ness, and  thus  spare  him  the  certain  shock  of 
discovery? 

Moreover,  when  the  truth  came  out,  would 
he  not  feel  with  justice  that  he  had  been  very 
badly  treated  both  by  Maseden  and  the  woman 
whom  he  professed  to  love? 

Maseden  squirmed  under  the  thought.  Such 
a  discussion,  at  such  a  moment,  savored  of  rank 


204  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

lunacy,  but  it  was  better  to  act  crazily  than  dis- 
honorably. 

Then  came  a  reflection  that  hurt  like  a  cut 
from  a  jagged  knife.  Sturgess  was  an  impres- 
sionable youngster.  He  might  easily  transfer 
his  wooing  from  Madge  to  Nina. 

Maseden  could  not  help  asking  himself  why 
a  torturing  question  of  that  kind  should  come 
to  plague  him  at  a  time  when  their  lives  were 
in  dire  jeopardy.  They  might,  by  chance,  exist 
a  week,  a  month — several  months  in  that  dread- 
ful fastness  of  rock,  forest  and  sea,  but  the 
briefest  glance  towards  the  interior  showed 
how  desperate  was  their  case,  and  he  knew  only 
too  well  that  the  absence  of  proper  food,  of 
fire,  of  clothing,  of  everything  that  renders  life 
tolerable  and  joyous,  would  soon  bring  mortal 
sickness  in  its  train,  even  though  they  ran  the 
gantlet  of  other  perils  like  unto  those  of  yes- 
terday. 

Why,  he  wondered,  in  addition  to  ending 
these  present  evils,  should  he  be  called  on  to 
solve  a  fine  point  in  ethics? 

He  did  not  realize  how  clearly  the  torment 
in  his  soul  was  revealed  in  his  face  until  Stur- 
gess demanded  cheerfully: 

' '  What 's  worrying  you  now,  boss  ?  You  ain  't 
chewing  on  that  little  misunderstanding  of  a 
minute  ago,  are  you1?" 

Maseden  smiled  dourly.    Here  was  an  open- 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   205 

ing,  and  he  would  take  it,  no  matter  what  the 
personal  cost. 

'  *  No.  That  is  not  my  way, ' '  he  said.  ' '  I  was 
merely  turning  over  in  my  mind  a  somewhat 
ticklish  problem.  Sometimes,  when  a  man  does 
not  know  how  to  act  for  the  best,  it  is  not  a  bad 
plan  to  run  counter  to  one's  own  inclinations. 
Then,  at  any  rate,  there  is  no  fear  of  selfish- 
ness warping  one's  judgment.  In  this  in- 
stance— " 

"Is  the  tide  rising  or  falling?"  interrupted 
Sturgess  excitedly. 

"Falling." 

"Good.  .  .  .    What's  that?" 

They  were  walking  in  the  direction  of  the 
oyster  bed  which  Maseden  had  found  overnight. 
The  beach  was  strewn  with  boulders,  the  sur- 
face of  each  a  mosaic  of  myriads  of  tiny  mus- 
sels. The  rock  floor  was  not  quite  flat,  but 
dipped  slightly  eastward,  and  the  outcrop  of 
every  stratum,  worn  smooth  by  countless  tides, 
offered  a  number  of  irregular  paths  by  which 
it  was  possible  to  walk  dry-shod  a  mile  or 
more  towards  mid-channel. 

Between  these  tracks,  so  to  speak,  the  water 
lodged  in  pools,  and  here,  too,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, the  smaller  rocks  gathered,  mostly  in 
groups. 

Among  one  such  pile  Sturgess 's  sharp  eyes 
had  detected  some  wreckage. 


206  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Now,  any  sort  of  flotsam  or  jetsam  might  be 
peculiarly  useful  to  folk  whose  belongings  had 
been  reduced  to  a  cloak,  a  ship's  flag,  a  few  oil- 
skins, and,  in  the  case  of  the  women,  little  else. 
The  sight  of  a  cabin  trunk,  upended  among  a 
litter  of  woodwork  and  tangled  iron,  drove  into 
the  special  Limbo  provided  for  all  vain  and  fool- 
ish things  the  personal  difficulty  which  was  per- 
plexing Maseden. 

He  hurried  on,  and  soon  was  aware  of  an 
oddly  familiar  aspect  about  the  trunk,  battered 
though  it  was,  and  discolored  by  long  immer- 
sion in  salt  water. 

"Well,  if  this  isn't  something  like  a  mira- 
cle!" he  cried  when  he  could  believe  his  senses. 
"Here  is  my  own  trunk!  The  last  time  I  saw 
it,  it  was  wedged  between  the  forecastle  deck 
and  the  iron  frame  of  a  bunk." 

"The  court  accepts  the  evidence,"  chortled 
Sturgess.  "We  find  in  close  conjunction  the 
remains  of  a  bunk  and  a  deck.  If  you  pro- 
duce a  key,  and  unlock  the  aforesaid  trunk, 
it  will  be  declared  yours  without  further  in- 
quiry." 

"There  is  no  key.    It  is  only  strapped." 

"What's  inside?" 

"Some  underclothing,  socks  and  shirts.  .  .  . 
By  Jove !  When  dried,  they  will  be  invaluable 
to  those  two  girls.  .  .  .  How  in  the  world  did 
they  contrive  to  lose  most  of  their  clothing? 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE      207 

You  were  all  fully  dressed  when  the  ship  struck, 
I  suppose?'* 

"I  guess  your  college  class  didn't  include  a 
course  of  heavy  seas  washing  through  a  deck- 
house every  half  minute  during  a  whole  day. 
What  sort  of  feminine  rig  would  stand  the  tear- 
ing rush  of  tons  of  water  hour  after  hour  <?  Man 
alive,  I  had  the  devil's  own  job  to  keep  any  of 
my  own  clothes  on,  and  would  never  have  suc- 
ceeded if  I  wasn't  well  buttoned  up  in  an  oil- 
skin. As  for  the  girls'  skirts  and  things,  they 
simply  fell  off  'em.  At  first  they  made  frantic 
efforts  to  save  a  few  rags,  but  they  had  to  give 
up.  I  saw  Madge's  skirt  washed  overboard  in 
strips.  All  the  seams  parted.  I'm  in  pretty 
bad  shape  myself.  Look  here." 

Sturgess  opened  his  oilskin  coat,  and  showed 
how  the  lining  had  fallen  out  of  his  coat  and 
the  back  had  parted  from  the  front  of  his  waist- 
coat. 

"If  it  hadn't  been  for  the  oilskins  we  would 
all  have  been  stripped  stark  naked,"  he  went 
on.  "Gee!  It's  marvelous  what  one  can  with- 
stand in  the  shape  of  exposure  when  one  is 
pushed  to  it  good  and  hard.  I  should  have  said 
that  those  two  girls  would  have  died  fourteen 
times  on  the  wreck,  let  alone  the  hour  before 
dawn  yesterday." 

Maseden,  meanwhile,  was  pulling  the  trunk 
free  from  the  twisted  frame  of  the  bunk,  which, 


208  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

screwed  to  the  deck,  had  carried  a  precious 
argosy  nearly  a  mile  from  the  reef ;  then,  most 
luckily,  it  had  caught  in  a  clump  of  seaweed, 
and  remained  anchored  during  two  ebbs. 

' 'We  needn't  bother  to  open  it  here,"  he  said. 
"I  know  exactly  what  is  inside — rough  stuff, 
bought  to  maintain  my  disguise  as  a  vaquero, 
but  all  the  better  for  present  purposes." 

He  paused  dramatically,  and  said  something 
which  might,  perhaps,  sound  better  in  Spanish. 
When  a  man  who  has  not  been  perturbed  in  the 
least  degree  by  grave  and  imminent  danger 
shows  signs  of  real  excitement,  his  emotion  is 
apt  to  be  contagious,  and  his  companion's  eyes 
sparkled. 

"Holy  gee!  What  is  it?"  he  almost  yelped. 
' '  Spit  it  out !  Don 't  mind  me ! " 

"This  trunk  contains  a  gun  and  car- 
tridges ! ' ' 

"Gosh!  I  thought  it  must  be  either  a  steam 
launch  or  an  aeroplane !  What  is  there  to  shoot, 
anyhow  I ' ' 

"Don't  you  understand?  Waterproof  car- 
tridges mean  fire.  We'll  have  a  roaring  fire 
within  five  minutes." 

"Put  it  there!"  shouted  Sturgess,  holding 
out  his  right  hand.  "There's  millions  of  tons 
of  iron-stone  in  that  hill  above  the  wood.  Let's 
start  a  ship-yard!" 

They  were  so  elated  that  they  forgot  to  gather 


A  PEEP  INTO  TEE  FUTURE   209 

any  oysters,  and  even  neglected  to  take  away 
the  iron  and  wires  of  the  bunk,  scraps  of  metal 
which  might  prove  of  inestimable  worth  in  the 
days  to  come.  Luckily,  however,  they  had 
plenty  of  time,  because  the  tide  would  fall  dur- 
ing another  couple  of  hours. 

Maseden's  hands  almost  trembled  as  he  undid 
the  straps.  Now  that  fortune  had  proved  so 
kind  he  feared  lest  the  cartridges  might  be 
spoiled.  But  a  bullet  torn  from  a  brass  case 
was  followed  by  grains  of  dry,  black  powder. 

Soon  he  had  manufactured  a  squib.  Dead 
branches  off  the  pines — always  the  best  of  fire- 
wood, and  far  preferable  to  dead  wood  lying 
on  the  ground — were  heaped  in  a  suitable  place, 
and,  in  less  than  the  specified  five  minutes,  a 
good  fire  was  crackling  merrily. 

There  were  logs  in  plenty.  Had  they  chosen, 
the  two  men  could  have  built  a  furnace  fierce 
enough  to  roast  an  ox  whole. 

It  was  good  to  see  the  wonderment  on  the 
faces  of  Madge  and  Nina  when  they  awoke  to 
find  an  array  of  coarse  flax  and  woolen  gar- 
ments steaming  in  front  of  the  blaze,  and  a 
dozen  big  oysters,  cooked  in  the  shells,  awaiting 
each  of  them.  About  that  time,  too,  the  sun  ap- 
peared, and  his  first  rays  changed  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  landlocked  estuary  from  biting  cold 
to  an  agreeable  warmth. 

So  the  four  breakfasted,  and,  at  the  close  of 


210  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  meal,  held  a  council  of  war.  With  a  charred 
stick,  Maseden  drew  on  a  rock  a  rough  map  of 
Hanover  Island. 

1  'I  overheard  from  one  of  the  crew  of  the 
Southern  Cross/'  he  said,  "that  the  ship  was 
supposed  to  be  drifting  towards  Nelson  Straits, 
which  is  the  only  opening  into  Smyth's  Chan- 
nel ever  attempted  hereabouts,  even  in  fine 
weather,  by  small  sealers  and  guano-boats. 
Now,  it  happens,"  he  went  on  reflectively,  "that 
this  coast  has  always  had  a  strange  fascination 
for  me." 

"It  was  a  treat  to  see  you  clinging  to  it  lov- 
ingly for  hours  at  a  time  yesterday,"  put  in 
Sturgess. 

"We  want  to  hear  what  Mr.  Maseden  has  to 
say,"  cried  Madge  sharply. 

"Sorry.  I  shan't  interrupt  again.  But,  be- 
fore the  court  resumes  may  I  throw  in  a  small 
suggestion  f  How  about  dropping  these  formal 
Misters  and  Misses?  My  front  names  are 
Charles  Knight,  usually  shorted  by  my  friends 
and  admirers  into  C.  K.  What's  yours,  Mase- 
den?" 

"Philip  Alexander,  otherwise  'Alec.'  " 

"Got  you.  Now,  girls,  what  do  Nina  and 
Madge  stand  for?" 

He  little  guessed  the  explosive  quality  of  that 
harmless  question,  but  he  did  wonder  why  both 
Nina  and  Madge  should  blush  furiously,  and 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   211 

why  their  eyes  should  flash  a  species  of  appeal 
to  Maseden. 

Nina  was  the  first  to  recover  her  composure. 

"Nina  and  Madge  should  serve  all  ordinary 
purposes,  C.  K.,"  she  said  with  a  rather  nerv- 
ous laugh. 

"They'll  do  fine,"  agreed  Sturgess.  But  he 
did  not  forget  his  own  surprise — and  the  cause 
of  it. 

Maseden,  quite  unprepared  for  this  verbal 
bombshell,  plunged  into  generalities  somewhat 
hurriedly. 

"Barring  the  polar  regions,  the  southern  part 
of  Chile  is  the  wildest  and  least  known  part  of 
the  world,"  he  said.  "It  is  extraordinary  in 
the  fact  that  every  ship  which  sails  to  the  west 
coast  of  both  the  Americas  from  Europe,  and 
vice  versa,  either  passes  it  in  the  Pacific  or 
winds  among  its  islands  for  hundreds  of  miles 
along  Smyth's  Channel;  yet  it  remains,  for  the 
greater  part,  unexplored  and  almost  uncharted. 
Darwin  came  here  in  the  Beagle,  and  the  sailor 
to-day  depends  on  observations  made  during 
that  voyage,  taken  nearly  three-quarters  of  a 
century  ago.  Darwin's  Journal,  and  other  of 
his  works  containing  references  to  South  Amer- 
ica, shortened  many  an  evening  for  me  on  the 
ranch. '  * 

He  paused  a  moment,  before  adding,  in  an 
explanatory  way : 


212  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"My  place,  Los  Andes,  was  a  good  twelve 
miles  from  Cartagena,  and  I  had  no  English- 
speaking  neighbors.  I  told  you  last  night,  if 
you  remember,  how  I  came  to  settle  down 
there?" 

Sturgess,  though  evidently  burning  to  ask  a 
question,  merely  nodded,  grinning  cheerfully 
when  he  caught  Nina 's  eye. 

"I  only  want  you  to  understand  why  I  claim 
some  knowledge,  such  as  it  is,  of  this  locality," 
continued  Maseden.  ".At  the  southwest  corner 
of  Hanover  Island  is  a  ten-mile  patch  called 
Cambridge  Island,  and  the  two  form  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  Nelson  Straits.  But  in  the 
channel  between  them  are  two  smaller  islands, 
and,  unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  there  they 
are." 

He  pointed  across  the  estuary,  and  indicated 
a  break  in  the  coast-line,  beyond  which  other 
more  distant  hills  were  visible. 

"It  follows,"  he  went  on,  "that  when  we  sail 
up  this  channel  to  the  left,  we  shall  find  our- 
selves in  Nelson  Straits,  and,  after  covering 
fifty  or  sixty  miles  of  fairly  open  water — open, 
that  is,  in  the  sense  that  there  is  plenty  of  it— 
we  shall  be  in  Smyth's  Channel,  and  in  the  track 
of  passing  ships." 

He  paused,  but  did  not  try  to  ignore  the  plain 
demand  legible  on  three  intent  faces. 

"Yes;  that  is  the  only  way,"  he  said  quietly. 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   213 

"We  are  here.  We  are  alive.  There  is  plenty 
of  wood,  and  we  have  brains,  hands,  and  fire. 
We  must  construct  some  sort  of  a  raft,  some- 
thing in  the  style  of  the  lumber-rafts  built  on 
big  rivers,  and  take  advantage  of  the  tides. 
Our  present  position  is  quite  inaccessible  by 
land,  and,  I  fear,  equally  unapproachable  by 
water. 

"And  I'll  tell  you  why  I  think  so.  Within 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  us  are  some  splendid  oys- 
ter-beds. The  coastal  aborigines  live  mainly  on 
shell-fish,  and  this  store  would  have  been  visited 
by  them  times  out  of  number  if  they  could  get 
at  it.  But  I  have  seen  no  heaps  of  shells,  such 
as  must  have  remained  if  the  savages  came  here. 

"What  has  stopped  them?  Impassable  for- 
ests, glaciers,  and  precipices  on  land,  dangerous 
reefs  and  fierce  tidal  currents  by  sea.  The  geo- 
logical feature  which  helped  our  climb  yester- 
day must  create  reef  after  reef  across  the  track 
of  the  channel. 

"You  see  those  pathways  there?"  and  he 
stretched  a  hand  towards  the  series  of  rock  out- 
crops lining  the  shore  like  groins.  ' '  They  have 
been  almost  leveled  by  the  storms  of  centuries. 
But  the  Southern  Cross  was  lost  on  one  of  them, 
and  there  must  be  scores  of  others  between  here 
and  Smyth's  Channel.  There  may  be  passages 
between  many  if  not  all,  but  it  is  self -evident 
that  navigation  is  far  too  risky  for  the  small 


214  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

coracles  of  the  natives.  We  must  go  slowly  and 
safely,  if  possible.  If  our  raft  will  not  cross  a 
reef,  we  must  abandon  it,  and  build  another  on 
the  far  side.  We  may  have  to  do  that  six  times, 
a  dozen  times,  even  in  sixty  miles.  There  is  no 
other  means  of  escape.  We  may  be  weeks, 
months,  in  winning  through,  but  that  is  our  only 
practicable  plan." 

"Gee!"  murmured  Sturgess.  "And  I'm  due 
in  New  York  on  February  10 !" 

The  sheer  absurdity  of  naming  a  date  relaxed 
the  tension.  They  all  laughed,  though  not  with 
the  light-hearted  mirth  which  four  young  peo- 
ple might  reasonably  display  after  dodging 
death  continuously  during  twenty-four  hours. 

' '  By  the  way,  what  day  is  it  I "  inquired  Nina 
Forbes  wistfully. 

"Sunday,  January  23,"  said  Sturgess.  "I 
know,  because  it  was  my  birthday  yesterday. 
Somewhere  about  eleven  o'clock  a.  m.,  I  was 
twenty-seven.  I  didn't  make  a  fuss  about  it. 
Just  at  that  time,  wise  Alec  here  was  holding 
on  to  a  rock  by  his  teeth  and  one  toe,  and  telling 
us  we  had  to  go  back  carefully  after  a  beastly 
difficult  climb." 

"Sunday!"  repeated  the  girl. 

Her  thoughts  traveled  many  a  thousand  miles 
to  the  quiet  little  New  Jersey  township  where 
her  mother  was  living  during  the  absence  of 
husband  and  daughters  in  South  America.  It 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE      215 

was  winter  in  the  North,  and  there  might  be 
snow  on  the  fields  and  ice  on  the  streams,  but 
snow  and  ice  conforming  to  New  Jersey  notions 
of  order  and  seemliness. 

What  a  contrast  between  the  white  mantle 
marked  out  in  rectangles  by  the  country  roads 
and  ditches,  with  here  and  there  a  group  of 
trees,  a  trim  shrubbery,  a  red-roofed  farm  or 
dwelling  house,  and  this  chaos  of  rock,  forest, 
cliff  and  ocean! 

"Will  the  loss  of  the  Southern  Cross  be  re- 
ported?" she  asked  suddenly.  The  query  was 
addressed  to  no  one  in  particular,  but  Maseden 
answered. 

' '  Her  non-arrival  will  be  noted  at  Punta  Are- 
nas," he  said.  "After  a  time  the  insurance 
people  will  post  her  as  'missing.'  Then  she  will 
be  assumed  to  be  lost.  Possibly  some  of  the 
wreckage  may  be  picked  up.  Or  a  boat.  What 
became  of  all  the  boats  ? ' ' 

"Some  of  'em  were  stove  in,  others  washed 
clean  off  their  davits,"  said  Sturgess.  "It  was 
absolutely  impossible  to  lower  one.  No  one  who 
did  not  witness  it  would  have  believed  that  a 
fine  ship  could  break  to  pieces  so  quickly.  Gee 
whiz !  One  minute  I  was  standing  near  the  fore 
rail,  looking  at  the  narrowing  entrance  in  full 
confidence  that  we  should  win  through,  and  the 
next  I  was  fighting  for  my  life  in  the  smoking- 
room,  up  to  my  waist  in  water. ' ' 


216  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"You  are  not  quite  doing  yourself  justice,  C. 
K., ' '  said  Madge.  l '  You  were  fighting  for  other 
people's  lives  as  well.  I  have  the  clearest  recol- 
lection of  being  hauled  up  the  companion  ladder 
to  the  bridge  by  you  and  one  of  the  ship's  offi- 
cers. Then  you  went  back  and  helped  Nina  and 
Mr.  Gray." 

"That  is  what  I  was  there  for,"  was  the 
prompt  reply. 

"This  being  Sunday,  do  we  labor  or  rest, 
Alec  f ' '  inquired  Nina. 

It  was  the  first  time  either  girl  had  used 
Maseden's  Christian  name,  and  the  sound  on 
a  woman's  lips  was  like  a  caress.  He  reddened, 
and  smiled.  Nina's  eyes  met  his,  and  dropped 
confusedly. 

"We  rest,"  he  said.  "We  need  rest.  At 
least,  I  am  free  to  confess  that  7  do.  You  ener- 
getic people  are  inclined  to  forget  that  I  began 
a  really  strenuous  life  by  receiving  a  rap  on  the 
head  that  put  me  out  of  commission  during  sev- 
eral hours.  .  .  .  Now,  Mr.  Sturgess — sorry,  C. 
K. — and  I  are  going  on  a  little  tour  along  the 
coast.  We  shall  be  away  an  hour  or  more.  I 
advise  you  two  to  rig  yourselves  as  best  you 
can  in  my  superfluous  garments.  Make  sure 
they  are  quite  dry.  It  may  seem  rather  absurd, 
but  putting  on  damp  clothing  is  an  altogether 
different  thing  from  allowing  wet  clothes  to  dry 
on  your  body.  Keep  a  good  fire.  There  is  noth- 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   217 


ing  to  be  afraid  of.  In  this  strange  land  there 
are  neither  animals  nor  reptiles." 

"Nor  birds,"  said  Nina. 

"Yes,  plenty  of  birds,  but  the  nesting  season 
is  long  over,  and  many  of  the  sea-birds  have 
gone  south.  As  we  progress  further  inland  we 
shall  come  across  great  colonies  of  puffins,  ducks 
and  swans.  Curiously  enough,  there  are  plenty 
of  humming-birds,  whieh  is  about  the  last 
species  one  would  expect  off-hand  to  find  in 
these  wastes.  .  .  .  Come  along,  C.  K.  Let  us 
try  and  circumvent  the  wily  seal." 

"Why  not  shoot  one?"  said  Sturgess. 

"Because  I  have  only  twenty-four  cartridges, 
and  each  one  may  yet  be  worth  its  weight  in 
diamonds.  Remember,  everybody! — we  only 
use  the  rifle  in  the  last  extremity,  either  for 
food,  or  fire,  or  actual  self-preservation.  Once 
lighted,  on  no  account  must  the  fire  be  allowed 
to  die  out.  Even  when  we  build  a  raft,  we  can 
imitate  the  natives,  and  carry  a  fire  with  us. 
To  save  us  men  from  temptation  to-day,  should 
we  find  a  seal,  we'll  leave  the  gun  with  the 
ladies. 

"A  couple  of  cudgels,  with  ends  sharpened 
and  hardened  in  the  fire,  should  serve  our  needs, 
and  do  the  seal's  business  as  well.  If  not,  we 
must  try  again,  and  exist  on  oysters  until  we 
become  more  expert. ...  I'll  put  five  cartridges 
in  the  magazine,  and  show  you  girls  how  it 


218  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

works.  If  you  regard  each  shell  as  worth,  say, 
five  thousand  dollars,  you'll  appreciate  the  net 
value  of  the  whole  twenty-four." 

Within  a  few  minutes  Maseden  and  Sturgess 
set  off.  The  tide  was  now  at  its  lowest  point, 
so  they  had  no  difficulty  in  walking  in  almost 
any  direction.  Their  first  act  was  to  drag  ashore 
the  remains  of  the  bunk.  Given  a  quantity  of 
malleable  iron  and  a  fire,  it  would  not  be  an  im- 
possible task  to  construct  some  rough  tools. 

While  placing  this  treasure-trove  above  high- 
water  mark  they  saw  the  two  girls  examin- 
ing the  stock  of  underclothes  which  Providence 
had  literally  provided  for  their  needs. 

"Gosh!"  said  Sturgess,  almost  reverently. 
"It  beats  me  to  know  how  a  couple  of  delicate 
women  could  endure  the  hardships  we  have  gone 
through. ' ' 

"But  women  are  not  delicate.  I  don't  under- 
stand why  men  invariably  harbor  that  delusion. 
In  passive  resistance  women  are  more  stead- 
fast, even  hardier,  than  men.  That  is  an  essen- 
tial, don 't  you  see  ?  The  continuance  of  the  race 
depends  far  more  on  the  female  than  on  the 
male.  Civilization  tries  to  upset  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  life,  but  fails,  luckily.  Savage  tribes 
are  aware  of  that  elementary  fact.  Low  down 
in  the  social  scale  the  women  do  all  the  work, 
while  the  men  loaf  around,  and  only  get  busy 
when  hunting  or  fighting." 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   219 

"Tell  you  what,  Alec,"  said  Sturgess  admir- 
ingly, "once  fairly  started,  you  talk  like  a 
book." 

Such  a  remark  could  hardly  fail  to  act  as  a 
gag  on  one  of  Maseden 's  temperament.  By 
habit  a  silent  man,  he  shrank  from  even  the  sem- 
blance of  loquacity.  Sturgess  could  extract  no 
further  information  from  him.  He  in  his  turn 
soon  learned  to  guard  his  tongue  when  the  Ver- 
monter  was  in  the  talking  vein,  and  uncon- 
sciously pouring  out  the  stock  of  knowledge  and 
philosophy  garnered  during  those  peaceful 
years  on  the  ranch. 

* '  We  had  better  go  this  way, ' '  said  Maseden, 
pointing  towards  the  w^est.  "Don't  you  think  it 
advisable  to  search  the  coast  seaward?  There 
have  been  three  tides  since  the  ship  struck,  and 
anything  likely  to  come  ashore  should  have 
shown  up  by  this  time." 

'  *  Go  right  ahead,  Alec.    "What  you  say  goes. ' ' 

Their  search  was  fruitless.  Indeed,  the  posi- 
tion in  which  the  leather  trunk  was  found 
proved  that  the  set  of  the  current  on  a  rising 
tide  was  in  the  direction  of  the  channel  between 
the  two  small  islands. 

Maseden  had  little  or  no  experience  of  the 
sea  and  its  vagaries,  or  he  would  have  noticed 
this  highly  significant  fact,  and  thus  saved  him- 
self and  his  companions  much  hardship  and  a 
good  deal  of  needless  risk. 


220  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Of  course,  he  saw  quickly  that  there  was  a 
remarkable  absence  of  wreckage  on  the  north 
side  of  the  estuary,  but  he  attributed  it  to  the 
fury  of  the  gale,  which  must  have  driven  a 
great  body  of  water  far  into  the  network  of 
channels  which  stretched  inland,  with  a  resul- 
tant outpouring  when  the  wind  pressure  was 
relaxed. 

The  only  satisfactory  outcome  of  a  close  visit 
to  the  bar  was  the  complete  vindication  of  their 
means  of  escape  from  the  ledge.  It  would  have 
been  a  sheer  impossibility  to  round  the  point 
at  or  slightly  above  sea-level.  The  tides  of  un- 
told ages  had  literally  scooped  a  chasm  out  of 
the  cliff,  and  perversely  chosen  to  batter  a  pas- 
sage through  the  rock  rather  than  take  the 
open  path  farther  south. 

They  could  not  see  the  reef  which  had  de- 
stroyed the  Southern  Cross.  But  they  could 
hear  it.  Ever  above  the  clatter  of  the  rollers 
on  the  nearer  rocks  they  caught  the  sullen  roar 
of  the  outer  fury. 

"Let's  clear  out  of  this,"  said  Sturgess  sud- 
denly. '  *  That  noise  sends  a  chill  right  down  my 
backbone." 

Maseden  turned  at  once.  In  any  case,  they 
could  not  have  remained  there  much  longer, 
because  the  tide  was  on  the  flow,  and  they  had 
yet  to  discover  how  swiftly  it  covered  the  rock- 
paved  fore-shore. 


A  PEEP  INTO  THE  FUTURE   221 

They  did  not  hurry,  but  kept  a  sharp  lookout 
for  seals,  seeing  several,  but  at  a  great  distance. 
While  they  were  yet  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  camping  ground,  from  which  came  a 
pillar  of  smoke,  showing  that  the  fire  was  not 
being  neglected,  they  were  startled  by  a  gunshot. 

It  smote  the  air  with  a  sound  that  was  all  the 
more  insistent  in  that  it  was  wholly  unexpected. 
It  drove  into  the  sea,  with  a  loud  splash,  a  seal 
close  at  hand  which  had  been  hidden  by  a  rock, 
and  even  brought  a  pair  of  circling  bustards 
from  some  eyrie  high  up  on  the  hills. 

With  never  a  word  to  one  another,  both  men 
began  to  run. 


CHAPTEE  XIII 

THE    SECOND    SHIPWRECK 

A  SERIES  of  reefs  does  not  supply  the  best  of 
surfaces  for  a  sprint.  Maseden  slipped  on  a  bed 
of  seaweed  and  fell  headlong,  fortunately  es- 
caping injury.  Sturgess,  lighter,  perhaps  more 
adroit  on  his  feet — it  came  out  subsequently 
that  he  was  an  accomplished  skater — stumbled 
several  times,  but  contrived  to  keep  going. 

Thus  he  was  the  first  to  reach  Madge  Forbes, 
who  hurried  to  meet  them,  followed  by  Nina, 
the  latter  walking  more  leisurely  and  carrying 
the  rifle. 

"What  has  happened?"  gasped  Sturgess. 
He  saw  that  the  girl  was  pale  and  frightened. 
She  and  her  sister  were  continually  looking 
backward,  as  though  expecting  to  find  they  were 
being  pursued. 

"I  think — it  is  all  right — now,"  she  said 
brokenly.  "Nina  shot  at  it — the  most  awful 
monster  I  have  ever  seen." 

* '  Had  it  two  legs,  or  four  ? ' ' 

Sturgess  was  incorrigible.  Notwithstanding 
the  start  caused  by  the  sound  of  the  gun,  he 

grinned.    The  girl  turned  to  Nina. 

222 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       223 

"Please  tell  them,  Nina,  that  we  are  not  ro- 
mancing," she  cried  indignantly. 

Nina  handed  the  rifle  to  Maseden. 

"Put  this  thing  right,"  she  said  coolly.  "It 
won't  work,  but  I'm  sure  I  hit  the  beast  with 
the  first  bullet." 

Maseden  pressed  down  the  lever,  and  saw 
that  a  cartridge  had  jammed,  as  the  extractor 
lever  had  not  been  jerked  downward  with  suf- 
ficient force.  He  began  adjusting  matters  with 
the  blade  of  his  knife. 

"Were  you  attacked  by  an  animal?"  he  in- 
quired. 

"We  don't  know  exactly  what  it  was,"  said 
Madge.  "When  you  left  us  we  decided  to  have 
a  bath  before  putting  on  dry  clothes.  As  our 
only  towel  was  the  ship 's  flag,  we  arranged  that 
each  should  rub  the  other  dry  with  her  hands. 
We  had  just  finished  dressing,  and  Nina  had 
gone  to  pile  fresh  logs  on  the  fire,  when  I  heard 
a  splash  in  the  water  of  the  creek.  I  looked 
around  and  saw  a  fearful  creature,  bigger  than 
a  horse,  which  barked  at  me.  I  shrieked,  and 
Nina  ran  with  the  rifle.  The  thing  barked  again 
—it  was  only  a  few  feet  away — so  she  fired. 
Then  we  both  made  off." 

' '  You  disturbed  a  seal,  I  expect. ' ' 

"No.  If  those  were  seals  we  saw  last  night, 
this  was  no  seal,"  said  Nina  decisively.  "It 
had  small,  fiery  eyes  and  long  tusks.  I  think  it 


224  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

had  flappers,  though,  in  place  of  feet,  but  it  was 
enormous.7' 

"Sounds  like  a  walrus,"  put  in  Sturgess. 

1 '  There  are  no  walruses  in  the  South  Pacific, ' ' 
said  Maseden.  "Anyhow,  now  that  the  maga- 
zine  works  all  right,  let's  go  and  have  a 
look." 

Ample  corroboration  of  the  girl's  story  was 
soon  forthcoming.  The  splashing  of  water  be- 
hind the  group  of  big  rocks  sheltering  the  pool 
in  which  they  had  taken  their  bath  showed  that 
something  unusual  was  going  on. 

They  all  reached  the  spot  in  time  to  witness 
the  last  struggles  of  a  gigantic  sea-lion,  one  of 
the  most  fearsome-looking  of  the  ocean's  many 
strange  denizens.  The  shot  fired  by  Nina 
Forbes  had  struck  it  fairly  in  the  throat,  in- 
flicting a  wound  which  speedily  proved  mortal. 

The  animal  was  a  full-grown  male,  fully  ten 
feet  in  length,  with  a  neck  and  shoulders  of 
huge  proportions.  Its  tusks  and  bristles  gave 
it  a  most  menacing  aspect.  The  wonder  was 
not  that  the  bathers  ran,  but  that  Nina  had  the 
courage  to  face  such  a  monster. 

Maseden  was  delighted,  and  patted  her  on  the 
shoulder. 

"Well  done!"  he  cried.  "You've  supplied 
the  larder  with  fresh  meat  for  days.  We  must 
even  try  our  'prentice  hands  at  curing  what  we 
can't  eat  to-day  or  to-morrow* " 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       225 

The  girl  herself  was  not  elated  by  her  tri- 
umph. The  water  in  which  the  sea-lion  lay  was 
deeply  tinged  with  its  blood,  which  had  also  be- 
spattered the  rocks. 

"I  have  never  before  killed  any  living  crea- 
ture," she  said  in  a  rather  miserable  tone. 
' '  Why  did  the  stupid  thing  attack  us  I  We  were 
doing  it  no  harm." 

Maseden  laughed. 

"Off  you  go,  both  of  you!"  he  said.  "C.  K. 
and  I  have  the  job  of  our  lives  now.  It  will  be 
no  joke  disjointing  this  fellow  with  a  couple  of 
pocket-knives.  But  if  the  fact  brings  any  con- 
solation, I  may  tell  you  that  a  sea-lion  when  irri- 
tated can  be  a  very  ugly  customer.  Probably 
this  one  was  sleeping  in  the  sun  under  the  lee 
of  a  rock,  and  you  may  have  come  unpleasantly 
near  him  without  knowing  it.  When  he  awoke 
and  saw  you  he  was  curious.  Instead  of  slink- 
ing off,  he  roared  at  you,  and  might  easily  have 
killed  the  pair  of  you ! ' ' 

"Can't  we  help?"  inquired  Nina,  seeing  that 
Maseden  meant  to  lose  no  time. 

"No." 

"But  we  ought  to,"  she  persisted.  "We 
must  get  used  to  such  work. ' ' 

"You  can  do  something  quite  as  serviceable 
by  rigging  a  few  lines  on  stout  poles,  where 
there  is  plenty  of  sun  and  air,  and  seeing  that 
a  big  fire  is  kept  up.  .  .  .  And,  by  the  way,  don't 


226  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

come  this  way  till  we  call  you.  We  shan't  be — 
presentable." 

The  two  disappeared  without  further  ques- 
tion. 

4 '  This  will  be  a  messy  undertaking, ' '  Maseden 
explained  to  his  assistant.  ' '  The  best  thing  we 
can  do  is  strip,  or  our  clothes  will  be  in  an  awful 
state." 

At  the  outset  they  abandoned  any  thought  of 
actually  dismembering  the  colossal  carcass. 
They  skinned  it  with  difficulty,  and  then  cut  off 
the  flesh  in  layers.  After  an  hour's  hard  en- 
deavor they  had  gathered  a  fine  store  of  meat, 
while  the  pelt,  after  being  well  washed  in  salt 
water,  was  stretched  on  a  flat  rock  to  dry. 

They  were  dressing  again  when  a  new  trouble 
arose.  From  out  of  the  void  had  gathered  a 
flock  of  vultures.  These  fierce,  evil-looking 
birds  were  so  daring  in  their  efforts  to  raid  the 
pile  of  meat  that  two  actually  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  knocked  over  by  the  staves  the  men 
carried. 

Sturgess  remained  on  guard,  therefore,  while 
Maseden  took  the  strips  and  hung  them  on  the 
lines  the  girls  had  already  prepared. 

Madge  volunteered  to  do  the  cooking.  She 
had  found  two  flat,  thin  stones,  somewhat  re- 
sembling hard  slate,  and  she  fancied  that  by 
placing  some  steaks  between  these  and  covering 
them  with  glowing  charcoal  the  trick  would  be 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       227 

achieved.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  she  succeeded 
wonderfully  well.  Even  Nina,  sniffing  her  por- 
tion, vowed  that  the  shooting  of  a  sea-lion  had 
its  compensations. 

More  vultures  arrived.  The  sea-lion's  bones 
were  rapidly  picked  clean,  but  one  of  the  men 
had  to  keep  close  watch  all  day  over  the  curing 
operations. 

An  amusing  argument  arose  as  to  the  correct 
method  of  drying  meat.  Maseden  held  that  he 
distinctly  remembered  reading  that  biltong,  or 
South  African  antelope  steak,  was  prepared  by 
hanging  the  strips  in  the  sun.  The  girls  were 
positive  that  this  would  cause  putrefaction,  and 
that  the  meat  should  be  placed  in  the  shade. 

As  Maseden  was  not  quite  sure  of  his  facts, 
he  compromised  as  to  a  quarter  of  the  supply, 
with  the  result  that  this  smaller  quantity  was 
rendered  uneatable. 

The  story  of  Alexander  Selkirk  has  been  told 
so  often,  and  in  so  many  forms,  that  it  will  not 
bear  repeating  here.  During  a  whole  fortnight 
these  four  young  people  devoted  their  wits  and 
their  muscles  to  the  all-important  task  of  feed- 
ing themselves  and  securing  some  means  of 
escape  into  the  interior.  The  men  soon  learned 
how  to  circumvent  the  wily  seal,  and  thus  store 
plenty  of  meat  and  skins,  which  latter,  with 
sinews  and  a  knife,  were  converted  first  into 


228  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

garments  for  the  women  and,  as  supplies  in- 
creased, into  a  tent. 

Maseden  noticed  that  the  high-water  mark 
fell  daily,  so  he  reasoned  that  the  Southern 
Cross  struck  during  a  high  spring  tide,  and  that 
the  neap  would  occur  in  fourteen  days.  He 
laid  his  plans  on  that  assumption,  which  was 
justified  almost  to  a  day. 

Another  gale  blew  up,  but  despite  its  discom- 
fort it  helped  them  materially,  because  the  men 
loosened  a  barrier  of  logs  which  had  formed 
high  up  the  wooded  cliff,  and  the  rain  freshet 
brought  down  far  more  timber  than  was  needed 
for  the  biggest  raft  they  could  hope  to  con- 
struct. 

After  some  experiments  they  decided  to  make 
it  a  three-tier  one,  and  flexible  in  the  center. 
Hence  it  was  fully  thirty  feet  in  length,  the 
average  length  of  a  thick  log  being  fifteen  feet 
after  its  roots  and  thin  section  had  been  burnt 
off.  For  the  same  reason  the  raft  was  fifteen 
feet  wide.  It  had  a  step  in  the  forepart  for  their 
old  friend,  the  broken  topmast.  They  dispensed 
with  a  rudder,  believing  they  could  guide  their 
ark  with  poles. 

Observation  showed  that  the  tide  flowed 
swiftly  in  midstream,  and  their  well-matured 
project  was  to  push  out  to  a  prearranged  point 
at  high-water,  anchor  while  the  tide  fell,  and 
travel  as  far  as  practicable  on  the  next  tide. 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       229 

They  tried  to  avoid  all  risks  that  could  be  fore- 
seen. 

The  raft  was  built  in  the  waterway  which 
Madge  had  termed  the  "  creek" — the  gulley 
cleared  for  itself  by  the  torrent  whose  dry  bed 
had  offered  them  a  road  through  the  otherwise 
impenetrable  forest.  Every  test  of  stability 
their  inventiveness  could  devise  proved  that  an 
area  of  thirty  feet  by  fifteen  of  logs  arranged 
in  three  rows  would  support  four  or  five  times 
the  weight  they  were  likely  to  place  on  it.  By 
manipulating  the  poles  Maseden  and  Sturgess 
found  that  they  could  control  the  movements  of 
even  such  an  unwieldy  bulk,  while  if  the  wind 
suited  they  might  rig  a  sail  of  skins. 

They  were  able  to  build  quickly  and  well  be- 
cause of  three  essentials.  The  timber  was  at 
hand,  they  had  a  fire,  and  in  the  pieces  of  rope 
and  strips  of  iron  and  wire  they  had  invaluable 
means  of  making  the  structure  secure. 

At  last,  on  the  fifteenth  day  after  the  wreck, 
Maseden  poled  out  the  raft  during  the  slack 
tide  at  high-water,  and  fastened  it  to  ropes  al- 
ready fixed  and  buoyed  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  shore.  He  would  allow  none  of 
the  others  to  accompany  him,  nor  did  he  carry 
any  of  the  few  stores  they  possessed.  He  could 
not  be  absolutely  certain  that  the  cables  would 
withstand  the  strain,  and  if  the  raft  were  swept 
seaward  by  the  falling  tide  only  one  life  was  in 


230  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

jeopardy,  while  Sturgess  might  be  able  to  help 
him  from  the  shore. 

His  vigil  was  watched  by  anxious  eyes,  espe- 
cially when  he  thought  fit  to  ease  the  stress  on 
the  ropes  by  planting  a  long  pole  against  a  big 
rock  which  he  knew  rested  a  few  feet  astern  and 
below  the  surface.  The  two  hours  of  half-tide 
were  the  worst,  but  the  anchors  held.  Three 
hours  later  the  raft  was  aground  and  he  came 
ashore. 

It  was  then  nearly  dark,  as  their  first  voyage 
would  naturally  be  taken  in  broad  daylight. 
Nothing  was  said  at  the  time,  but  he  was  told 
afterwards,  that  for  no  conceivable  guerdon 
would  any  of  the  three  again  go  through  the 
agony  of  suspense  they  endured  while  the  raft 
swung  and  lurched  in  the  fierce  current. 

Meat,  fresh  and  dried,  a  quantity  of  oysters, 
the  leather  trunk,  and  a  charcoal  fire  cunningly 
packed  in  oyster  shells  kept  in  position  by  wire 
— this  cooking  brazier  being  the  invention  of 
Nina  Forbes — formed  the  cargo.  Most  fortu- 
nately Maseden  carried  the  poncho  and  the  rifle 
slung  across  his  back  with  rope,  and  the  car- 
tridges were  in  his  pockets. 

They  slept  on  board.  Soon  after  daybreak 
the  raft  was  afloat,  but  was  not  allowed  to  move 
until  there  was  a  fair  depth  of  water,  owing  to 
the  very  great  probability  of  the  whole  structure 
being  dashed  to  pieces  against  some  awkwardly 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       231 

placed  boulder.  At  last,  however,  Maseden 
thought  the  channel  was  practicable,  and  the 
ropes  were  cast  loose,  being  sacrificed,  of  course, 
but  that  could  not  be  helped. 

They  were  off !  The  first  of  flfe  sixty  miles 
was  already  slipping  away.  They  were  so  ex- 
cited, so  bent  on  the  adventure  ahead,  that  none 
of  them  thought  of  looking  back  until  Provi- 
dence Beach,  which  was  the  name  they  gave 
their  refuge,  was  nearly  out  of  sight. 

Suddenly  Madge  Forbes  remembered,  and 
turned  her  eyes  in  that  direction.  She  waved 
a  hand  and  cried : 

"Good-by,  trees  and  rocks!  You  were  kind 
to  me  and  to  all  of  us !  I  have  not  had  two  such 
happy  weeks  since  I  came  to  South  America ! ' ' 

Maseden  heard,  but  paid  no  particular  heed. 
For  one  thing,  he  had  decided  now  not  to  re- 
open the  question  of  the  extraordinary  relations 
between  his  wife  and  himself  until,  if  ever,  they 
reached  civilization  again.  For  another,  he  was 
busily  conning  the  channel  and  noting  the  be- 
havior of  their  clumsy  but  quite  buoyant  craft. 

He  estimated  the  pace  of  the  current  at  fully 
six  miles  an  hour.  The  raft  was  traveling  about 
half  that  rate,  which  was  quite  fast  enough  for 
his  liking,  so,  although  there  was  a  strong  breeze 
from  the  west,  he  did  not  hoist  the  * '  sail. ' '  He 
stood  on  the  port  side  and  Sturgess  on  the  star- 
board. The  two  girls  were  seated  on  a  pile  of 


232  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

fir  branches  behind  the  mast,  which  was  stayed 
by  ropes  in  such  wise  that  all  four  had  some- 
thing to  cling  to  if  the  raft  struck  a  sunken  rock 
and  lurched  suddenly. 

The  projecjwas  to  drift  as  far  inland  as  the 
day's  tide  would  take  them,  pole  ashore  at  the 
nearest  suitable  place,  and  repeat  the  over- 
night anchoring  until  they  reached  smooth 
water,  when  they  might  perhaps  make  longer 
voyages.  If  they  ran  six  miles  that  day  they 
would  have  done  admirably.  Providing  Mase- 
den's  calculations  as  to  their  precise  locality 
were  reasonably  accurate,  the  next  day  would 
bring  them  into  a  much  wider  arm  of  the  sea. 

Here  the  conditions  might  vary,  but  they 
would  adapt  themselves  to  circumstances,  al- 
ways bearing  in  mind  the  exceeding  wisdom  of 
the  Italian  proverb:  Che  va  piano  va  sano — 
"He  goes  safely  who  goes  cautiously." 

But  there  are  other  proverbs  which  are 
equally  applicable  to  human  affairs,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  hazards  awaiting  rafts  floating  on 
unknown  waters.  For  an  hour  they  ran  on 
gaily,  with  little  or  no  trouble,  because  the  men 
could  see  broken  water  a  long  way  ahead  and 
promptly  piloted  their  argosy  towards  the  open 
channel. 

Then  came  the  unexpected,  or,  to  be  exact, 
the  crisis  arose  which  Maseden  had  foreseen 
many  days  earlier,  but  forgotten  as  the  raft 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       233 

grew     strong     and     seaworthy     under     their 
hands. 
About  four  miles  from  Providence  Beach  the 

»• 
5  which  shut 
rly  neighbor 

came  into  full  view.  Maseden  anticipated  a 
little  difficulty  at  this  point,  but  he  was  quite 
unprepared  for  that  which  really  took  place. 

He  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  main 
stream  would  flow  straight  ahead  until  the  sec- 
ond island  was  passed;  he  meant  to  land  on 
Hanover  Island  again,  just  short  of  the  easterly 
end  of  Island  Number  Two.  Therefore  he  was 
annoyed,  but  not  alarmed  at  first,  at  finding 
that  the  current  carried  the  raft  into  the  straits 
between  the  islets. 

The  others,  of  course,  noticed  the  change  of 
direction,  and  being  well  aware  of  his  hopes  and 
plans,  asked  him  in  chorus  if  this  deviation  mat- 
tered. 

"I  don't  see  that  it  does,"  he  said.  "In  any 
case,  we  must  follow  the  tide,  and  if  this  is  the 
short  cut  so  much  the  better. ' ' 

He  told  them  that  which  he  actually  believed. 
Still,  at  the  back  of  his  head  lay  an  uneasiness 
hard  to  account  for.  The  raft  was  traveling 
south  now,  not  east,  having  swept  round  the 
bend  in  magnificent  style.  The  pecipitous 
heights  were  closing  in,  but  the  channel  was 
fully  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  width.  He  would 


234  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

vastly  have  preferred  skirting  the  wooded 
slopes  of  Hanover  Island,  because  these  smaller 
islets  were  absolutely  barren  in  this  hitherto 
invisible  sedfti,  but,  having  no  choice  in  the 
matter,  silenPd  his  doubts  by  recalling  his  first 
and  quite  correct  theory  that  the  real  deep- 
water  passage  lay  beyond,  the  Southern  Cross 
having  in  fact  struck  several  miles  north  of  Nel- 
son Straits. 

Owing  to  the  steady  narrowing  of  the  water- 
way the  rate  at  which  they  traveled  was  increas- 
ing momentarily,  though  progress  was  delight- 
fully smooth  and  easy.  The  simile  did  not 
occur  to  any  of  the  four  until  complete  disaster 
had  befallen  them,  but  the  silent,  resistless  on- 
rush of  the  current  was  ominously  suggestive 
of  the  course  of  some  great  river  during  the 
last  few  miles  before  it  hurls  itself  over  a  cat- 
aract. 

Hanover  Island  soon  vanished  from  sight  al- 
together, and  the  towering  cliffs  on  either  hand 
seemed  to  merge  into  an  unbroken  barrier 
ahead.  But  the  tidal  race  hurried  on,  so  there 
must  be  an  outlet,  and  this  presented  itself,  after 
a  sharp  turn  to  eastward  again,  when  they  had 
covered  a  couple  of  miles  on  the  new  course. 

They  were  only  given  the  briefest  warning  of 
the  peril  into  which  they  were  being  carried. 
The  stream  flung  itself  against  a  great  mass  of 
rock,  which  had  been  undermined  until  the 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       235 

upper  edge  of  the  precipice  hung  out  fifty  feet 
or  more  over  the  rushing  waters  beneath.  A 
most  uncanny  maelstrom  was  thus  created. 

No  sooner  had  the  two  men  seen  the  danger 
than  they  labored  with  might  and'main  to  slew 
the  raft  away  to  the  opposite  shore. 

They  succeeded  in  avoiding  the  first  jumble 
of  black  rocks  which  lay  at  the  base  of  the  cliff, 
but  the  whole  character  of  the  stream  changed 
instantly.  It  became  a  furious  turmoil  of 
broken  water.  The  raft  was  hurled  hither  and 
thither  as  though  by  some  titanic  force,  and  a 
few  yards  farther  on  was  dashed  against  a  sec- 
ond and  even  more  terrifying  reef. 

The  violence  of  the  impact  smashed  the  whole 
structure  to  pieces.  Had  not  the  logs  been  ar- 
ranged in  tiers  crosswise  they  must  have  split 
up  instantly,  but  the  method  in  which  they  were 
put  together  held  them  for  one  precious  moment 
while  the  men  each  clutched  one  of  the  girls  and 
leaped  for  the  nearest  rock. 

By  rare  good  luck  they  kept  their  feet,  and 
reached  a  great  flat  mass  which,  judged  by  ap- 
pearances, had  only  recently  fallen. 

Further  advance  or  retreat  was  alike  impos- 
sible. On  three  sides  roared  the  cheated  tor- 
rent; behind  and  above,  canopy-wise,  towered 
the  cliff.  If  the  evidence  of  ominous  fissures 
and  lateral  cracks  were  to  be  read  aright,  there 
was  no  telling  the  moment  when  they  might  be 


236  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

buried  under  another  avalanche  of  thousands  of 
tons  of  stone. 

Every  tide  deepened  the  sap.  They  were  im- 
prisoned in  one  of  nature's  own  quarries,  where 
work  was  relentless  and  unceasing. 

Once  again  idle  chance  had  decided  that 
Maseden  should  save  Nina  and  Sturgess  Madge. 
Not  that  it  mattered  a  jot.  If  ever  four  people 
were  in  hapless  case,  it  was  they.  For  a  time 
even  to  Maseden,  who  had  never  lost  faith  in 
his  star,  it  seemed  that  the  best  fortune  that 
could  now  befall  would  be  for  the  trembling 
rock  overhead  to  crash  down  on  them. 

The  din  was  terrific,  and  the  water  level  was 
rising  so  rapidly  that  five  minutes  after  they 
had  gained  their  present  position  the  boulders 
to  which  they  had  sprung  from  the  sundering 
platform  of  logs  were  a  foot  deep  in  the  swirl- 
ing current.  Each  of  the  girls,  wholly  uncon- 
scious of  her  attitude,  clung  despairingly  to  the 
man  at  her  side  and  watched  the  climbing  surge 
with  somber  eyes. 

They  were  too  stunned  to  yield  to  fear,  and 
the  life  of  the  past  fortnight  had  so  steeled  their 
nerves  and  strengthened  their  bodies  that  faint- 
ing was  no  longer  the  readiest  means  of  obtain- 
ing a  merciful  respite  from  present  horrors. 
Rather  did  a  bitter  rage  possess  them,  for  it 
was  a  harsh  and  monstrous  decree  of  fate  which 
had  not  only  robbed  them  of  a  hard- won  means 


THE  SECOND  SHIPWRECK       237 

of  escape,  but  immersed  them  in  a  veritable  con- 
demned cell. 

Maseden,  like  the  others,  was  watching  the 
encroaching  water-line  in  a  benumbed  way  when 
he  became  aware  that  Nina  was  speaking.  He 
looked  into  her  drawn  face  and  tried  to  smile, 
though  a  sort  of  mist  clouded  his  eyes. 

"What  is  it,  girlie?"  he  said,  putting  his 
mouth  close  to  her  ear  and  addressing  her  as 
though  she  were  a  timid  child. 

"Is  this  the  end?"  she  cried,  imitating  him. 

"Not  yet,  anyhow,"  and  he  gave  her  a  reas- 
suring hug. 

"Tell  me — if  you  think — we  have  only  a  few 
more  minutes,"  she  said. 

He  read  nothing  into  the  request  save  a  nat- 
ural desire  that  she  should  be  prepared  for  the 
worst  and  try  to  cross  the  Great  Divide  with  a 
prayer  on  her  lips.  The  pitiful  words  helped  to 
dispel  the  cloud  which  had  befogged  his  wits, 
and  he  began  to  weigh  the  pros  and  cons  of  the 
forlornest  of  forlorn  hopes. 

The  water  was  lapping  their  feet.  The  rock 
arched  outward  over  their  heads.  Between  the 
spot  where  they  stood  and  the  actual  wall  of 
rock  there  was  already  a  flowing  stream. 

He  looked  at  his  watch.  The  hour  was  seven 
o'clock,  and  he  estimated  the  time  of  high-water 
at  about  half -past  seven.  Then,  as  when  he  was 
lying  along  the  foremast  of  the  Southern  Cross 


238  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

amid  the  thnnders  of  the  reef,  a  tiny  seed  of 
hope  sprang  into  life  in  his  brain.  If  they  could 
outlast  the  tide  there  was  still  a  chance ! 

The  very  fact  that  this  chaos  of  fallen  cliff 
created  a  fearsome  rapid  in  the  tideway  showed 
that  the  passage  must  be  fairly  open  during 
low  water.  If  promptness  in  decision  could  en- 
able a  man  to  conquer  a  difficulty,  Maseden  was 
certainly  not  lacking  in  that  attitude. 

"Come!"  he  said.  "Not  for  the  first  time, 
we  must  put  our  backs  to  the  wall.  We  may 
find  a  good  grip  for  our  feet  before  the  water 
mounts  too  high.  The  four  of  us  must  lace  arms 
and  cling  together.  I  believe  the  tide  will  not 
rise  above  our  knees.  At  any  rate,  we  cannot 
be  swept  away  easily.  It  is  worth  trying." 

She  nodded.  Turning  to  her  sister,  she  ex- 
plained Maseden 's  scheme.  Soon  they  were 
braced  against  the  rock  and  facing  valiantly 
their  new  ordeal. 

In  the  Middle  Ages,  when  a  lust  for  inflicting 
torture  infected  some  men  like  a  cancerous 
growth,  a  favorite  method  of  at  once  punishing 
and  destroying  an  unfortunate  enemy  was  to 
chain  him  in  a  dungeon  to  which  a  tidal  river 
had  access,  and  leave  him  there  until  the  slow- 
rising  flood  drowned  him. 

They  were  in  some  such  plight,  self-chained 
to  a  rock,  though  not  knowing  when  a  sudden 
swirl  of  water  might  sweep  them  to  speedy  death. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    TUBN    OF    THE    TIDE 

The  change,  when  it  came,  came  swiftly.  It 
was  as  though  the  Ail-Powerful  bade  the  waters 
cease  their  snarling  and  stilled  the  fury  of  the 
reef.  During  nearly  an  hour  the  sea  lapped  the 
very  thighs  of  the  four  castaways,  but  the  roar 
of  battle  between  rocks  and  current  had  died 
down  and  it  was  possible  to  hear  the  spoken, 
word. 

Sturgess  was  the  first  to  break  the  spell  cast 
on  the  whole  party  by  the  seeming  imminence 
of  death. 

"If  ever  I  set  foot  in  New  York  again  I'll  be 
good  and  go  to  church  Sundays,"  he  said. 
"This  is  Sunday,  February  6,  an'  I  guess  I've 
been  as  near  Kingdom  Come  to-day  as  I'm 
likely  to  get  on  a  round  trip  ticket." 

For  a  little  while  no  one  passed  any  comment. 
Sunday!  The  mere  name  of  the  day  had  a 
bizarre  sound.  What  had  God-given  Sunday 
and  its  peaceful  associations  to  do  with  this 
grim  and  savage  wilderness? 

Suddenly  Nina  Forbes  began  to  recite  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  One  by  one  the  others  joined 
in.  The  concluding  petition  had  a  peculiar  ap- 

239 


240  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

propriateness.  If  ever  four  Christian  people 
might  appeal  to  be  delivered  from  evil,  surely 
these  four  were  in  great  need  of  heavenly  suc- 
cor. 

' 'That's  fine!"  said  Sturgess,  almost  cheer- 
fully, when  a  hearty  "Amen"  had  relieved  their 
surcharged  feelings.  "Me  for  the  pine  pew  and 
the  right  sort  of  preacher  when  next  I  stroll 
out  of  West  Fifty-seventh  Street  into  Broad- 
way of  a  Sabbath  morning.  Anyhow,  to-day 
being  Sunday,  and  the  hour  rather  early,  which 
way  do  we  head  for  the  nearest  church  when  the 
tide  falls,  commodore?" 

Maseden  had  already  weighed  that  very  ques- 
tion, but  the  utter  collapse  of  the  voyage  on 
which  he  had  founded  such  high  hopes  had  chas- 
tened his  pride. 

"I  think  we  had  better  put  it  to  the  vote," 
he  said.  "I've  led  you  into  such  a  death- 
trap already  that  I  don't  feel  equal  to  a 
decision." 

He  had  been  watching  a  big  rock  on  the  op- 
posite shore.  A  little  while  ago  it  was  awash; 
now  it  was  submerged,  yet  the  water  was  appre- 
ciably lower  where  they  were  standing. 

The  seeming  contradiction  was  puzzling.  He 
had  yet  to  learn  that  the  laws  governing  water 
in  motion  are  extraordinarily  complex — take  to 
witness  the  varying  levels  of  the  whirlpool  in 
the  Niagara  River  and  the  almost  phenomenal 


THE  TURN  OF  TEE  TIDE        241 

height  of  the  central  stream  in  the  Niagara 
rapids. 

"Guess  we're  satisfied  with  your  control  so 
far,"  said  Sturgess.  "What  are  you  making  a 
kick  about?  You  prophesied  just  what  would 
occur,  and  that's  more  than  the  average  wizard 
can  do." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"Didn't  you  tell  us  we  might  strike  a  score 
of  reefs  between  Providence  Beach  and  Smyth's 
Channel,  and  that  we  should  be  lucky  if  we 
didn't  have  to  build  'steen  rafts?" 

Maseden  smiled.  The  rock  he  had  marked  as 
an  index  was  reappearing,  and  the  water  had 
sunk  another  inch  below  his  knees.  The  tide 
had  unquestionably  turned;  the  water  banked 
up  on  the  opposite  shore  was  also  yielding  to 
the  new  force. 

"I  never  anticipated  another  complete  ship- 
wreck," he  said.  "We  have  lost  everything, 
ropes,  skins,  food — our  chief  supporter,  the 
broken  foremast — even  our  flag." 

"But  we  still  have  the  rifle  and  cartridges, 
and  we're  plus  a  fortnight's  experience.  If 
we  don't  start  life  again  better  fixed  than  when 
we  climbed  to  the  ledge  in  the  dark  from  the 
forecastle  of  the  Southern  Cross,  call  me  a 
Dutchman. ' ' 

"I  agree  with  C.  K."  Nina  chimed  in.  "Even 
here  there  must  be  some  sort  of  a  passage  at 


242  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

low  water.  Which  way  shall  we  go — back  or 
forward  ? ' ' 

"  We  gain  nothing  by  going  back,"  said  Mase- 
den  slowly.  "For  one  thing,  we  are  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  channel.  For  another,  I  have 
been  taking  stock  of  the  peculiar  vagaries  of 
the  tide  during  the  past  fifteen  minutes,  and  I 
imagine  that  there  is  a  slight  difference  in  the 
water  level  between  this  point  and  that  which 
we  left  this  morning.  Still  water  attains  a  dead 
level,  of  course,  but  strong  tides  have  rules  of 
their  own. 

"Now,  supposing  the  tide  from  the  Pacific 
runs  into  Providence  Beach  a  few  minutes  ear- 
lier than  it  reaches  Nelson  Straits,  that  would 
account  for  the  terrific  rush  in  which  we  were 
caught.  For  the  same  cause,  the  falling  tide 
should  be  far  less  strenuous  here,  but  stronger 
there,  and  I  do  really  believe  that  opposite  our 
camp  the  ebb  tide  always  developed  a  swifter 
current  than  the  flood." 

"I'm  sure  of  it,"  agreed  Sturgess.  "They 
were  both  pretty  hefty,  but  this  morning's  flood 
didn't  begin  to  compare  with  last  night's  ebb. 
You  ought  to  know.  You  went  through  it  alone 
on  board  the  raft." 

' '  Then  the  answer  is,  '  Go  forward, '  : '  said 
Madge. 

"I  think  so.  Let  us  be  guided  by  events.  We 
have  the  best  part  of  the  day  before  us.  Surely 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE        243 

we  can  find  some  safer  lodgment  than  this  be- 
fore night  falls." 

The  others  knew  that  Maseden's  voice  had 
lost  its  confident  ring,  but  the  fact  that  they  had 
so  narrowly  dodged  death  barred  all  other  con- 
siderations. 

In  his  heart  of  hearts  he  was  deadly  afraid 
that  they  might  indeed  be  compelled  to  return 
to  Hanover  Island.  The  sheer  barrenness  of 
the  islet  on  which  they  were  now  stranded  was 
its  vital  defect.  Probably  they  would  still  find 
shell-fish,  still  knock  an  occasional  seal  on  the 
head,  but  wood  they  must  have,  both  for  fire 
and  raft  building,  and  it  seemed  to  him  that 
there  were  no  trees  nearer  than  the  slopes  fac- 
ing Providence  Beach. 

However,  having  come  so  far,  they  might  at 
least  have  a  look  at  the  conditions  on  the  south 
side,  where  lay  yet  another  island;  and  there 
was  also  the  unalterable  fact  that  if  they  must 
escape  by  using  the  tides,  their  first  day's  ex- 
periences, though  resulting  in  disaster,  had 
brought  them  many  miles  in  the  right  direction. 

Perhaps  they  had  met  and  conquered  their 
greatest  danger.  They  had  paid  a  dear  price 
for  victory,  but  that  was  nothing  new  in  war. 

Of  course  there  was  a  long  and  wearisome 
wait  before  they  could  do  other  than  sit  on  the 
slowly  emerging  rocks.  But  it  was  something 
gained  when  they  were  free  to  climb  out  into 


244  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  open  and  see  the  sky  over  their  heads.  The 
silent,  nerve-racking  menace  of  the  canopied 
rock  was  quite  as  unbearable  as  the  loud- 
mouthed threats  of  sea  and  reef. 

Madge,  slightly  less  self-contained  than  her 
sister,  promptly  voiced  her  relief. 

* '  If  I  live  to  be  older  than  I  want  to  be  I  shall 
never  forget  one  awful  crack  in  the  roof  just 
above  us,"  she  said.  "I  couldn't  keep  my  eyes 
off  it.  It  seemed  to  be  opening  and  shutting  all 
the  time  with  a  horrible  slowness." 

"How  old  do  you  want  to  be?"  demanded 
Sturgess,  readily  seizing  the  chance  to  divert 
her  thoughts  from  a  nightmare  memory. 

"Forty-five,"  she  answered  without  any  hesi- 
tation. 

"Gee!  That  leaves  me  less  than  eighteen 
years  to  live!" 

"I  wasn't  thinking  of  you,  C.  K." 

"But  your  limit  rouses  one's  curiosity.  Why 
forty-five,  any  more  than  fifty  or  sixty? 
Granted  good  health,  heaps  of  people  enjoy  life 
at  sixty." 

"At  forty-five  a  woman  begins  to  fade  and 
men  grow  horrid,"  she  announced  calmly,  as 
though  stating  an  incontrovertible  thesis. 

"Please  don't  talk  rubbish,  either  of  you," 
interrupted  Nina  sharply.  "Alec,  can't  we 
dodge  along  from  rock  to  rock?  It  seems  to  be 
ever  so  much  more  open  half  a  mile  ahead." 


245 

" Let's  try,"  said  Maseden. 

He  wondered  vaguely  why  Nina  broke  in  on 
her  sister's  quaint  theorizing.  Any  nonsense 
which  took  their  minds  off  the  troubles  of  the 
hour  was  a  good  thing  in  itself. 

They  scrambled  and  slithered  through  the 
passage,  which  resembled  the  moraine  of  a  gla- 
cier, save  that  the  rocks  were  on  the  same  plane, 
and  the  central  stream  was  clear  and  greenish 
instead  of  being  nearly  milk  white.  Once  they 
were  held  up  fully  fifteen  minutes  because  the 
channel  ran  close  to  an  overhanging  rock  which 
really  looked  as  though  it  might  be  brought 
down  by  the  disturbance  of  a  pebble. 

Then  Maseden  was  moved  to  make  investiga- 
tions, and  discovered  that  the  main  waterway 
was  extraordinarily  deep.  In  other  words,  the 
sea  had  preferred  to  scoop  out  a  ditch  rather 
than  flow  through  the  ample  space  bordering 
Hanover  Island.  Even  at  low  tide  there  was 
deep  water  here. 

"We  must  go  on,  one  at  a  time,"  he  said,  and 
led  the  way. 

He  found  that  Nina  Forbes  was  close 
behind. 

"Remain  where  you  are!"  he  said  gruffly. 
"I'll  tell  you  when  to  follow  and  indicate  the 
best  track." 

She  frowned,  and  her  eyes  sparkled,  but  she 
obeyed.  Sturgess,  too,  growled  a  protest. 


246  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"He  ought  to  give  me  that  kind  of  try-out," 
he  said.  "If  there's  trouble,  and  I  go  under,  it 
won't  matter  so  much.  But  you  girls  can't 
spare  Alec.  He's  worth  twenty  of  me  when  it 
comes  to  a  showdown." 

However,  they  all  crossed  the  danger  point 
safely,  and  each  in  turn  noticed  that  which 
Maseden  alone  had  been  able  to  see  at  first — 
that  a  huge  buttress  had  fallen  quite  recently, 
probably  during  the  preceding  tide,  so  the  whole 
mass  might  crumble  into  ruin  at  any  moment. 
As  was  their  way,  once  a  danger  had  passed 
they  did  not  discuss  it  again.  Sturgess,  of 
course,  had  something  to  say,  though  it  only 
bore  inf erentially  on  this  latest  risk. 

"I  always  had  a  notion  that  the  New  York 
Fire  Department  was  a  pretty  nervy  proposi- 
tion, ' '  he  informed  all  and  sundry  during  a  halt 
on  the  only  strip  of  open  beach  yet  encountered 
in  their  new  exploration,  "but  I  guess  I  can 
show  the  chief  a  few  fresh  stunts  first  time  I 
blow  into  headquarters  on  East  Sixty-seventh 
Street." 

Sturgess 's  airy  references  to  New  York  were 
excellent  tonics.  He  refused  to  regard  that 
great  city  and  its  ordered  life  as  dreamlike  fig- 
ments of  the  imagination.  To  him  the  flaring 
lights  of  Broadway  ever  glimmered  above  the 
horizon.  Had  he  sighted  the  Statue  of  Liberty 
around  the  next  bend  that  would  mean  reality; 


this,  the  dreary  expanse  of  dead  hills,  water  and 
black  rock,  would  have  been  the  dream. 

Maseden,  recovering  his  poise,  had  resumed 
his  every-day  air  of  well-grounded  optimism. 
At  any  rate,  he  argued,  the  four  of  them  were 
living  and  uninjured.  They  still  owned  those 
thrice-precious  cartridges,  the  rifle  and  the 
poncho.  They  had  many  hours  of  daylight  be- 
fore them,  and  would  surely  find  drinkable 
water  and  food  before  dark. 

Happily  the  weather  was  fine,  though  clouds 
banking  up  in  the  west  told  of  a  possible  gale, 
which  might  blow  itself  out  in  a  few  hours,  or 
last  as  many  days,  or  weeks.  In  that  climate 
there  was  no  knowing.  The  almanac  declared 
that  it  was  high  summer,  yet  it  would  be  no  un- 
common event  if  a  snowstorm  came  from  the 
southwest  and  mantled  all  the  land  a  foot  deep. 

As  for  their  clothes  being  wet,  these  young 
people  thought  little  of  such  a  trifle.  Their  skins 
were  becoming,  in  the  expressive  Indian  phrase, 
"all  face." 

So  they  trudged  on,  heading  for  the  mouth  of 
the  defile.  In  the  far  distance  they  discerned 
the  broken  line  of  another  mountainous  island, 
the  lower  slopes  black  with  forests. 

"That's  a  good  sign,  folk,"  said  Maseden, 
smiling  cheerfully  once  more.  "We're  making 
for  a  timber  belt.  When  you  come  to  think  of 
it,  trees  simply  couldn't  grow  on  these  rocks, 


248  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

and  the  watershed  seems  to  fall  away  on  both 
sides  of  the  gorge,  which  must  have  been  cut 
by  an  earthquake." 

His  eyes  had  been  searching  constantly  for 
signs  of  the  raft's  wreckage,  but  never  so  much 
as  a  splintered  log  could  he  see.  Nina,  not  so 
preoccupied,  was  gazing  farther  afield. 

Suddenly  she  stopped,  and  something  in  her 
manner  arrested  the  others. 

"I  don't  think  I'm  mistaken,"  she  said,  "but 
are  not  those  two  points  the  flanks  of  these 
islands  ? ' ' 

11  There  can  be  little  doubt  of  that,"  agreed 
Maseden,  following  her  glance  towards  the  gap 
some  three  or  four  miles  in  front.  It  was  diffi- 
cult to  estimate  distance  accurately  in  that  re- 
gion of  vast  solitudes. 

"Then,  if  that  is  so,"  she  went  on  in  a  puzzled 
tone,  "where  does  the  remainder  of  the 
land  go  to?  The  cliffs  end  not  so  very  far 
away.  Why  don't  we  see  other  bits  sticking 
out!" 

The  underlying  sense  of  the  question  was 
clearer  than  its  form.  For  some  undetermined 
cause  the  passage  between  the  islands  evidently 
widened  considerably  before  it  closed  in  at  the 
ultimate  southern  exit.  Hopefulness  is  often 
a  close  blend  of  curiosity  and  expectation. 
They  pressed  on  more  rapidly,  eager  as  children 
to  see  what  lay  around  the  corner. 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE         249 

They  were  soon  enlightened,  and  most  agree- 
ably so.  They  entered  a  spacious  amphitheatre 
• — in  its  way,  almost  a  place  of  beauty.  Not  only 
were  the  hillsides  clothed  with  pines  and  other 
trees,  but,  rarest  sight  of  all  along  that  stark 
coast,  strips  of  white  sand  bordered  the  fore- 
shore. 

The  tidal  water,  now  near  the  lowest  ebb,  was 
placid  as  a  lake,  and  on  its  surface  disported 
flocks  of  many  varieties  of  wild  fowl.  More- 
over, wreckage  began  to  line  the  beach  at  high- 
water  mark.  They  found  the  planks  and  spars 
of  many  ships,  some  quite  fresh,  and  evidently 
the  remains  of  the  Southern  Cross;  others 
weather-beaten,  even  crumbling  with  age. 

Eemains  of  the  raft  were  discovered,  and 
Nina  shrieked  with  joy  at  sight  of  the  ship's 
flag,  hardly  damaged,  lying  on  its  hilliard  along- 
side the  broken  topmast. 

Madge  claimed  the  most  remarkable  bit  of 
flotsam — nothing  less  than  the  brandy  bottle, 
unbroken,  but  nearly  full  of  salt  water,  half 
buried  in  sand. 

It  was  their  only  drinking  utensil,  and  there- 
fore prized  very  highly.  How  it  had  passed 
through  the  turmoil  of  the  rapids  was  one  of 
those  mysteries  which  voyaging  bottles  alone 
can  solve;  and  they,  if  sometimes  eloquent  of 
humanity's  adventures,  are  invariably  silent  as 
to  their  own. 


250  E18  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

The  skins  of  the  sea-lion  and  seals  had  van- 
ished. Indeed,  a  very  close  search  of  a  three- 
mile  semi-circular  beach,  conducted  for  reasons 
which  shall  presently  appear,  yielded  no  trace 
of  them. 

There  was  a  dramatic  fitness  in  thus  reaching 
a  land  of  plenty  after  enduring  the  horrors  of 
the  pass. 

"It's  like  a  fairy  tale,"  cried  Nina  joyously. 
"This  is  the  enchanted  realm,  guarded  by 
dragons  which  must  be  slain  ere  the  prince  can 
enter. ' ' 

"Gosh!"  grinned  Sturgess,  "she's  calling 
you  a  prince  now,  Alec.  Say,  Madge,  can't  you 
invent  a  name  for  me ! ' ' 

"Yes,  you're  the  Ugly  Duckling  which  grew 
into  a  Swan." 

"Huh!  I'll  think  that  over.  Far  be  it  from 
me,  fair  maid,  to  dispute  your  views  as  to  my 
future  plumage.  Now,  Alec,  your  turn.  It's 
up  to  you  to  christen  Nina." 

"Cinderella,  maid  of  all  work,"  said  Mase- 
den  promptly.  "So,  let's  get  busy,  the  lot  of 
us.  Girls,  you'll  probably  find  an  oyster-bed  on 
that  reef  over  there.  Sturgess  and  I  will  hunt 
for  water,  and  bring  you  a  bottleful.  Then  we 
must  set  to  work  and  build  a  shack  above  high- 
water  mark  before  night.  We're  going  to  stop 
here  and  launch  a  more  navigable  craft  next 
time." 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE        251 

"Your  highness  has  forgotten  one  thing," 
said  Nina,  with  sudden  gravity. 

"What  is  that?" 

"It  is  still  Sunday." 

"With  one  accord  they  dropped  to  their  knees 
and  thanked  Providence  for  the  mercy  which 
had  been  shown  them.  Such  prayers  are  the 
spontaneous  tribute  of  the  overflowing  heart. 
They  are  not  to  be  uttered  aloud  or  recorded  in 
the  written  word. 

The  men  had  no  difficulty  in  locating  a  stream, 
owing  to  the  "creek,"  as  Madge  had  phrased 
it,  which  marked  the  approach  of  each  torrent 
to  the  sea.  Here,  too,  were  oysters  in  abun- 
dance. Whether  or  not  the  bivalves  liked  a  cer- 
tain admixture  of  fresh  water  and  brine,  their 
enthusiastic  admirers  did  not  know;  but  cer- 
tainly the  best-stocked  beds  were  invariably 
situated  near  the  mouth  of  a  mountain  stream. 

With  a  plentiful  supply  of  shaped  planks, 
cordage,  even  rusty  nails,  they  soon  knocked 
together  a  low  hut,  not  more  than  breast  high, 
and  closed  at  one  end.  The  ship's  flag  curtained 
off  the  inner  section,  which  was  allotted  to  the 
two  girls,  while  the  men  could  sleep,  on  guard, 
as  it  were,  in  the  outer  part. 

As  night  came  on  they  started  a  fire  and 
cooked  two  birds  of  the  penguin  type,  which 
allowed  themselves  to  be  chased  and  captured. 
The  flesh  was  tough  and  none  too  well  flavored, 


252  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

but  the  feasters  were  not  hard  to  please.  When 
the  repast  was  ended,  and  they  sat  on  piles  of 
soft  sand  looking  out  over  the  darkening  ex- 
panse of  waters,  for  the  tide  was  high  again, 
Maseden  electrified  Sturgess  by  saying: 

1  'Do  you  smoke,  C.  K!" 

"Does  a  duck  swim?"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

Maseden  produced  from  his  coat  pocket  a 
pipe  and  tin  of  tobacco. 

The  other  eyed  them  with  downright  amaze- 
ment. 

"Well,  can  you  beat  it?"  he  cried.  "What 
else  have  you  got  in  your  pocket,  old  scout  ?  A 
bottle  of  rye  whisky  and  a  box  of  chocolates  for 
the  girls,  or  what?" 

"I've  reached  the  end  of  my  resources  now," 
laughed  Maseden.  "I  resolved  to  keep  this 
small  stock  of  tobacco  till  the  time  came  when 
we  might  regard  half  our  troubles  as  ended.  I 
think  we've  reached  that  stage  to-night.  After 
this  morning's  escape  I  shall  never  again  lose 
hope  until  the  light  goes  out  forever." 

"Oh, please, don't  put  it  that  way, "said  Nina. 

"I  mean  it  as  an  optimist,"  he  exclaimed. 
"If  I  have  to  swim  in  the  open  sea,  or  am  buried 
under  a  landslide,  I  shall  still  believe,  while  my 
senses  last,  that  Providence  will  see  me  through. 
Do  you  know  why?  You  might  supply  many 
good  reasons,  but  not  the  reason.  Ten  minutes 
after  we  climbed  under  that  overhanging  rock, 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE        253 

it  fell.  I  happened  to  look  back,  and  saw  it 
collapse.  None  of  us  heard  the  crash,  because 
we  were  close  to  a  rather  noisy  rapid  at  the 
moment.  But  I  actually  saw  the  thing  happen. ' ' 

"Why  didn't  you  tell  us  at  the  time?"  in- 
quired Madge. 

"I  thought  our  nervous  systems,  collectively, 
had  borne  enough  strain  just  then.  .  .  .  Here 
you  are,  C.  K.  I  give  you  first  turn  with  the 
pipe." 

"Not  on  your  life!"  vowed  Sturgess,  flaming 
into  volcanic  energy.  "If  I  never  smoke  again, 
I'll  not  touch  that  pipe  until  you've  gone  right 
through  a  packed  bowl-full." 

Maseden  knew  that  his  friend  meant  what  he 
said,  so  filled  and  lighted  the  pipe  immediately. 

"It's  a  moot  point,"  he  commented  philo- 
sophically, "whether  you  don't  enjoy  smoking- 
more  in  anticipation  than  I  in  actuality.  I 
haven't  smoked  now  during  sixteen  days,  and 
I  believe  I  could  give  it  up  for  sixteen  years  if 
need  be." 

"Good  gracious!"  tittered  Madge.  "Poor 
C.  K.  will  have  only  two  years  of  his  beloved 
New  York." 

It  was  a  subtle  thrust.  Sturgess  himself  was 
the  first  to  see  its  point. 

"Gosh!"  he  said.  "S'pose  we  four  had  to 
live  here  straight  on  for  sixteen  years!" 

Nina  Forbes  seemed  to  have  a  keener  sense 


254  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

of  the  dangerous  trend  of  such  careless  talk 
than  her  sister. 

1  'I  do  wish  you  two  wouldn't  babble,"  she 
broke  in  sharply.  "Alec  is  simply  chock  full 
of  information.  I  can  see  it  in  his  calculating 
eye.  For  instance — " 

Maseden  took  the  cue  readily. 

"For  instance,"  he  said.  "This  inland  la- 
goon explains  the  rush  of  the  tide  this  morning. 
The  greater  part  of  the  water  which  runs 
through  the  pass  never  goes  back.  It  floods  this 
immense  area,  is  held  up  by  the  tide  from  the 
south,  but  goes  out  that  way,  because,  by  some 
irregular  tidal  action,  the  ebb  begins  in  that 
direction.  Therefore,  an  ideal  backwash  is  set 
up,  which  accounts  for  all  the  wreckage  strewed 
on  the  beach.  Parts  of  ships  which  were  lost  a 
century  ago  will  be  stored  here.  The  place  is  a 
maritime  museum." 

"We  may  find  a  whole  ship,"  exclaimed 
Madge. 

' '  What  ?  After  coming  through  the  hell-gate 
we  have  left  behind?" 

"The  bottle  came  through,"  she  persisted. 

* '  Though  it 's  a  black  bottle  it  must  have  been 
white  with  fear  many  a  score  of  times.  Have 
you  noticed  the  way  in  which  the  logs  of  our 
own  raft  were  battered  and  bruised?  .  .  .  No, 
the  way  in  was  vile,  and,  I  had  better  warn  you 
now,  the  way  out  may  be  worse." 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE        255 

"Oh,  why?"  cried  both  girls. 

"Because  of  the  absence  of  Indians.  Consider 
what  an  ideal  site  this  would  be  for  a  colony  of 
savages.  Plenty  of  fish,  birds  and  oysters — 
sand — even  a  few  level  strips  which  might  be 
cultivated — if  the  South  American  Indian  ever 
does  till  the  land.  The  logic  of  the  situation  is 
clear.  Our  refuge  is  inaccessible.  That  is  just 
the  difference  between  romance  and  reality.  In 
the  fairy  tale,  once  you  slay  the  dragons  guard- 
ing the  enchanted  palace-the  remainder  is  a  com- 
pound of  nectar  and  kisses.  In  real  life,  having 
stormed  the  fortress,  you  find  yourself  be- 
sieged. ' ' 

None  disputed  his  conclusions.  They  were 
learning  to  think  like  him,  and  each  had  been 
struck  by  the  virgin  solitude  of  this  land-locked 
sea-lake,  which  must  compare  favorably  with 
the  most  fertile  and  exceedingly  scarce  localities 
of  the  kind  in  an  area  of  many  scores  of  thou- 
sands of  square  miles. 

"Anyhow,  while  you  finish  your  pipe,  it's  up 
to  me  to  fix  the  fire,"  said  Sturgess  blithely, 
leaping  to  his  feet,  and  beginning  to  arrange  a 
number  of  big  flat  stones  around  and  above  a 
pile  of  glowing  charcoal  in  such  wise  that  rain 
could  not  extinguish  it,  and  a  few  twigs  placed 
among  the  embers  next  morning  would  quickly 
burst  into  a  blaze. 

They  had  taught  themselves  these  minor  aids 


256  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

to  comfort.  Madge  had  constructed  a  very  cred- 
itable field  oven,  and  Nina,  with  a  bit  of  sharp- 
ened wire  and  a  supply  of  dried  sinews,  could 
sew  a  skin  as  a  cobbler  stitches  the  sole  on  to  a 
boot.  Physically  all  four  were  in  splendid  con- 
dition, so  it  was  a  sheer  impossibility  that  they 
should  remain  downcast  in  spirit.  Maseden 
knew  that  quite  well  when  he  recited  the  trials 
they  must  yet  face  and  conquer.  He  addressed 
them  as  co-workers,  not  as  pampered  young  peo- 
ple who  must  be  humored  into  putting  forth  the 
necessary  efforts  if  they  would  win  through 
finally. 

They  slept  that  night  as  soundly  as  though 
the  morning's  tribulation  was  something  they 
had  read  in  a  book.  Bain  pounded  on  their 
shelter,  but  it  was  roofed  with  pine  branches 
above  the  planks,  and  not  a  drop  entered.  They 
awoke  into  a  world  of  blue  sky  and  sunshine, 
and,  after  breakfasting  on  oysters,  cold  fowl, 
and  good  water,  spent  an  idle  hour  in  watching 
the  tidal  race  from  the  north. 

Then,  after  tending  the  fire,  they  set  off  on  a 
tour  of  the  shore,  meaning  tp  note  every  scrap 
of  wreckage  which  might  be  of  value.  More- 
over, Maseden  was  specially  anxious  to  have  a 
peep  at  the  southern  exit. 

And  thus  they  made  the  great  discovery. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE    SIMPLE    LIFE 

WHO  found  the  boat?  The  question  has  not 
been  answered  to  this  day.  Four  people  held 
and  vehemently  expressed  different  opinions; 
if  they  had  not  agreed  ultimately  to  pool  the 
credit,  the  foundations  of  six  very  firm  friend- 
ships might  have  been  endangered,  because  even 
the  sisters  were  at  logger-heads  on  the  point. 

No  one  could  dispute  the  fact  that  it  was  Nina 
Forbes  who,  with  outstretched  hand  and  point- 
ing finger,  exclaimed  dramatically: 

"What  is  that?" 

But  the  other  three  yielded  her  no  prior  right 
on  that  account.  Were  they  not  all  looking  at 
it,  and  thinking  that  which  Nina  said? 

Each  could  establish  a  most  reasonable  claim 
if  the  matter  were  adjudicated  by  a  prize  court. 
Firstly,  Maseden  had  ordered  a  close  survey  of 
the  coast,  and,  if  this  very  proper  precaution 
had  not  been  taken,  the  boat  would  be  rotting1 
yet  on  an  uncharted  beach.  Secondly,  if  Stur- 
gess  had  not  slipped  on  a  rock  and  scarified  his 
chin  rather  badly  there  would,  thirdly,  have 
been  no  need  for  Madge  to  suggest  that  he 
should  wash  the  wound  in  fresh  water,  and  even 
insist  that  this  should  be  done. 

257 


258  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Lastly,  there  was  Nina,  who  literally  de- 
manded an  explanation  of  a  long,  low  strip  of 
taut  canvas  visible  above  a  small  sand  hill  on 
which  tufts  of  coarse  grass  were  struggling  for 
life. 

The  simplest  way  out  of  the  difficulty  was  to 
admit  that  sheer,  unadulterated  good  luck 
brought  about  an  incident  which  probably 
changed  the  whole  course  of  events,  though  a 
white  and  shining  patch  of  skin  on  Sturgess's 
left  leg  testifies  to  this  day  that  his  accident  was 
primarily  responsible  for  it. 

Two  fair-sized  streams  ran  from  the  hills  into 
the  straits  on  that  side.  Near  the  first  was 
pitched  the  camp.  Well  hidden  near  the  second 
was  the  boat. 

Now,  these  rivulets,  though  fairly  deep  and 
swift,  were  not  torrents;  that  is  to  say,  they 
drained  a  watershed  by  no  means  so  steep  as 
Hanover  Island.  Their  volume  was  more  regu- 
lar, inasmuch  as  they  were  not  wholly  the  out- 
come of  the  latest  downpour  of  rain.  To  avoid 
the  necessity  of  fording  them,  one  had  to  walk 
a  long  way  seaward  until  their  waters  began  to 
spread  over  the  reef  in  a  hundred  little  runnels, 
and  one  could  leap  from  rock  to  rock. 

Indeed,  it  was  while  Sturgess  was  so  doing 
that  he  barked  his  shin,  a  most  painful  if  not 
dangerous  operation ;  in  this  instance,  it  evoked 
language  which  the  girls  pretended  not  to  hear. 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  259 

Having  crossed  the  stream,  however,  Madge 
examined  the  damage,  and  would  have  it  that 
the  sufferer  take  off  his  boot  and  sock,  and 
forthwith  lave  the  wound  in  fresh  water. 

What  he  really  wanted  to  do  was  to  wander 
away  out  of  earshot  and  relieve  his  feelings  by 
the  spoken  word.  He  obeyed,  however,  and  all 
four  went  up  the  right  bank  (which,  as  Sturgess 
and  Madge  jointly  cited  in  their  contention,  they 
certainly  would  not  have  done  otherwise)  to  a 
point  where  the  river  was  free  of  salt-water. 

In  the  result,  curiously  enough,  Sturgess 's 
excoriated  wound  was  left  absolutely  to  its  own 
devices.  Both  he  and  Madge,  not  to  mention 
the  other  two,  were  startled  out  of  any  further 
thought  of  such  a  minor  casualty  by  coming  full 
tilt  on  to  a  ship's  boat,  trimly  sheeted  in  gray 
canvas,  dry-docked,  one  might  say,  behind  a 
sandhill. 

After  an  incredulous  stare,  Maseden  an- 
swered Nina's  eager  question. 

"It  is  one  of  the  life-boats  of  the  Southern 
Cross,"  he  said,  and  his  voice  was  hushed,  al- 
most reverent.  * '  There  is  her  number,  with  the 
ship's  name.  She  was  carried  on  the  starboard 
side,  just  behind  the  forward  rail  on  the  prome- 
nade deck.  I  used  to  look  up  at  her  and  admire 
her  lines." 

By  this  time  they  had  raced  up  alongside  the 
craft.  She  appeared  to  be  undamaged.  Mase- 


260  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

den  unlaced  a  portion  of  the  canvas  cover.  She 
was  dry  as  a  bone  inside. 

"Say,  Alec,  d'you  know  that  every  boat  was 
stocked  with  provisions  and  water  for  twenty 
people  for  fourteen  days  ?  I  heard  the  captain 
.give  the  order." 

Sturgess  was  so  excited  that  he  almost  yelped 
the  words. 

"I  saw  the 'stewards  putting  the  stuff  on 
faoard,"  said  Maseden. 

1  'There's  tea,  and  coffee,  and  condensed  milk, 
and  butter,  and  tins  of  meat  and  jam,"  cried 
Nina. 

"And  ship's  biscuits,  and  a  spirit  stove,  and 
matches,  and  barrels  of  water,"  chimed  in 
Madge. 

Maseden  was  tapping  the  planks  and  peering 
at  so  much  of  the  keel  as  was  visible,  but  he 
could  find  no  sign  of  injury.  The  smart  white 
paint  had  been  badly  scraped  amidships  and  in 
the  bows,  but  the  wood  was  not  splintered.  To 
the  best  of  his  belief  the  craft  was  thoroughly 
seaworthy.  She  carried  her  full  complement  of 
oars,  a  mast,  and  lugsail.  In  fact,  she  was  al- 
most in  the  exact  condition  in  which  she  had  left 
the  ship. 

Two  pulleys  and  a  part  of  a  broken  davit 
showed  how  she  had  been  wrenched  bodily  from 
her  berth  and  flung  into  the  sea  by  the  first 
great  wave  that  crashed  over  the  Southern 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  261 

Cross  when  the  steamship  swung  broadside  on 
to  the  reef  under  the  pull  of  the  aft  anchor. 

' '  Come  along,  everybody ! ' '  shouted  Maseden, 
and  the  ring  of  triumph  in  his  voice  revealed 
the  depth  of  his  feelings.  "We  start  building 
a  new  camp  at  once.  Within  less  than  a  fort- 
night the  spring  tides  which  brought  her  here 
will  be  with  us  again,  and  we  must  be  ready  for 
them." 

"Can't  we  launch  her  on  rollers?"  demanded 
Sturgess. 

* '  I  doubt  it.  She  was  docked  here  by  a  back- 
wash which  does  not  occur  very  often,  judging 
by  the  herbage  growing  among  the  sand.  She 
is  a  heavy  craft,  too.  I  don't  think  the  four  of 
us  could  move  her.  We'll  have  rollers  in  readi- 
ness, of  course,  but  we  must  cut  a  channel  for 
the  tide,  and  so  make  sure  of  floating  her.  .  .  . 
By  Jove!  What  a  piece  of  luck ! " 

It  took  them  an  hour  or  more  to  sober  down. 
For  once,  Maseden 's  orders  were  tacitly  ig- 
nored, even  by  himself.  Instead  of  helping  in 
the  construction  of  another  hut  the  girls  were 
busy  with  the  lashings  of  the  canvas  cover. 
Every  true  woman  has  the  instinct  of  the  good 
housewife,  and  these  two  could  not  rest  content 
until  they  had  examined  and  classified  the  stores. 

None  of  them  could  resist  the  temptation  of  a 
bottle  of  coffee  extract,  some  condensed  milk 
and  a  tin  of  biscuits.  The  spirit-stove  was 


262  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

lighted,  some  water  boiled  and  they  drank  hot 
coffee  and  ate  wheat  for  the  first  time  in  seven- 
teen days. 

Their  greatest  surprise  was  the  quantity  and 
variety  of  stores  on  board.  There  were  knives 
and  forks,  enameled  plates  and  cups,  even  such 
minor  requisites  as  salt,  pepper  and  mustard. 

Of  course,  the  chief  steward  of  the  Southern 
Cross  had  been  given  many  hours  in  which  to 
make  preparations.  Being  a  resourceful  man, 
when  the  lockers  were  packed  with  their  regula- 
tion supplies  he  stuffed  "extras"  into  odd  cor- 
ners. 

Poor  fellow !  The  pity  was  that  an  adverse 
fate  had  denied  him  any  benefit  from  his  own 
foresight. 

Although  the  castaways  entered  with  good 
heart  upon  their  second  campaign  against  the 
forces  of  nature,  the  immense  advantages  now 
enjoyed  as  compared  with  their  condition  on 
Hanover  Island  did  not  blind  them  to  the  diffi- 
culties yet  to  be  faced  and  conquered  ere  the 
haunts  of  civilized  man  might  be  reached. 
There  was  no  gainsaying  the  cogency  of  Mase- 
den's  logic;  the  absence  of  aborigines  from  a 
spot  so  favored  as  Rotunda  Bay  (the  name  al- 
lotted to  their  new  location),  supplied  positive 
proof  of  the  impracticable  nature  of  all  ap- 
proaches by  sea. 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  263 

How  far  the  barriers  might  extend  they  had 
no  means  of  knowing.  They  could  guess  how 
forbidding  they  were  from  the  character  of  the 
northerly  channel,  and  it  was  easy  to  believe 
that  one  such  dangerous  passage  alone  would 
not  have  deterred  tribesmen  accustomed  to  navi- 
gate these  perilous  waters. 

So,  in  the  intervals  of  labor,  they  gave  close 
heed  to  the  tides  and  their  action.  For  instance, 
Maseden  would  knock  together  a  small  raft, 
launch  it  at  high  water  and  watch  its  subsequent 
course.  He  found,  at  first,  that  it  stranded  in- 
variably. Then  he  took  it  to  the  tiny  estuary 
of  the  second  river,  waited  until  the  ebb  was 
well  established,  and  let  it  swing  out  with  the 
current. 

This  time,  as  he  anticipated,  it  was  carried 
swiftly  southward,  and  was  seen  no  more,  thus 
confirming  his  belief  that  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  tide  set  up  a  circular  movement  of  an  im- 
mense body  of  water  always  tending  in  the  same 
southerly  direction,  retarded  during  the  flow, 
with  resultant  acceleration  during  the  ebb. 

One  day,  when  observation  farther  afield  was 
desired,  they  all  four  set  off  soon  after  dawn, 
and  were  close  to  the  southern  narrows  at  high 
water.  Then,  as  the  shore  gradually  became 
practicable,  they  followed  the  receding  tide  un- 
til farther  advance  became  dangerous.  Seen 
from  a  distance,  one  of  the  cliffs  offered  a  not 


264  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

impossible  climb,  and  closer  inspection  showed 
that,  by  hard  work,  and  some  roping,  they  could 
reach  the  summit. 

The  girls,  who  had  positively  refused  to  be 
left  "at  home,"  were  now  equally  determined 
to  make  the  ascent.  The  soles  of  their  light 
boots  had  long  since  given  out,  but  each  and  all 
now  wore  moccasins  of  sealskin,  and  very  serv- 
iceable and  comfortable  footgear  these  proved, 
being  impervious  to  the  jars  of  the  roughest 
rock  surface,  and  most  excellent  for  climbing. 

After  an  hour's  hard  work  they  stood  on  a 
narrow  saddle  overlooking  a  seaward  precipice, 
and  the  vista  before  their  eyes  was  at  once  awe- 
inspiring  and  disheartening.  Mile  after  mile, 
nothing  but  broken  water  met  the  eye.  The 
reefs  were  countless.  In  fact,  the  resistence 
they  offered  to  the  incoming  tide  direct  from 
the  Pacific  was  such  that,  in  all  likelihood,  it 
accounted  for  the  delay  which  set  up  the  ex- 
traordinary race  past  Hell  Gate. 

Even  Sturgess  was  upset  by  the  far-flung 
chaos.  A  strong  wind  was  blowing  up  there, 
and  he  sank  his  voice  in  the  hope  that  his  words 
would  reach  Maseden  only. 

"Rotten!"  he  said.  "It  would  knock  the 
stuffing  out  of  a  brass  dog." 

"No  secrets,  please,"  cried  Madge  promptly. 
"What  did  you  say,  C.  K.?  Are  you  telling 
Alec  that  there  is  no  way  out?" 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  265 

"Yep,"  was  the  disconsolate  reply. 

"We  have  not  quite  determined  that  fact 
yet,"  said  Maseden  coolly.  "Having  done  a 
stiff  climb,  suppose  we  get  our  money's  worth, 
and  sit  down?  Never  mind  the  unpleasant 
prospect  in  front.  Let's  keep  a  sharp  look-out 
for  a  log  traveling  in  mid-stream,  and  watch  it 
as  long  as  possible." 

Nina,  who  was  endowed  with  excellent  good 
sight,  was  the  first  to  detect  a  nearly  submerged 
tree-trunk  bobbing  about  in  the  channel,  nearly 
a  mile  distant.  The  atmosphere  happened,  how- 
ever, to  be  unusually  clear  that  day,  so  they 
could  follow  the  progress  of  the  derelict  for  an- 
other mile  or  more.  As  soon  as  it  emerged 
from  the  actual  channel  between  the  two  head- 
lands, it  swung  away  to  the  left,  or  eastward, 
and  kept  on  that  course  until  lost  in  the  waste 
of  waters. 

Maseden  whistled  in  sheer  vexation  when  he 
gave  up  the  attempt  to  follow  this  floating  in- 
dex any  longer. 

"What  is  it  now,  son?"  inquired  Sturgess. 

"The  worst,"  snapped  the  other  vindictively. 

"Great  Scott!  Didn't  you  like  the  look  of 
that  log.  I  thought  it  lolloped  along  in  a  devil- 
may-care  style  that  was  rather  attractive." 

"But  it  turned  towards  the  land,  and  not 
towards  the  sea." 

"I  guess  that's  so." 


266  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"And  doesn't  that  convey  any  meaning  to 
you?" 

1 '  Sure.  The  tides  hereabouts  go  all  ways  for 
Sundays.  Before  that  thing  reaches  Nelson 
Straits  it  has  to  round  the  eastern  end  of  the 
island  opposite.  .  .  .  Yes,  yes,  Alec.  You've 
wised  me  up  on  heaps  of  things  I  didn't  give 
a  hooraw  in  Hades  for  at  one  time.  I  can  tell 
the  time  by  the  sun,  skin  an  eel,  or  a  seal,  or  a 
teal,  open  oysters  like  a  bar-keep,  and  read  an 
eddy  like  a  Mississippi  pilot.  And,  to  my  reck- 
oning, our  boat,  or  any  boat,  has  as  much 
chance  of  winning  through  that  proposition  out 
there  as  a  lump  of  butter  in  a  fiery  furnace.  I 
never  did  hold  very  strongly  by  that  story 
about  Shadrack,  Mesack  and  Abednego.  I've  a 
notion  we  haven't  got  the  complete  facts.  One 
day  in  Pittsburg — " 

"Silence,  please,  for  the  passing  of  the  next 
log,  which  happens  to  be  a  boat ! ' ' 

Nina 's  voice  rang  out  clearly.  She  well  knew 
the  astounding  significance  of  the  words,  but 
the  daily  round  of  hardship  and  adventure  were 
molding  her  character  on  new  and  stronger 
lines.  She  was  not,  nor  ever  could  be  again,  the 
somewhat  conventional  young  lady  who  had 
sailed  from  San  Juan  little  more  than  a  month 
ago.  She  could  face  now,  with  an  unflinching 
and  critical  eye,  perils  which  then  would  have 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  267 

blanched  her  cheek  and  set  the  blood  pulsing 
in  her  veins. 

Even  her  sister,  who  had  not  made  out  the 
object  to  which  Nina  had  called  attention,  put 
an  alarming  question  quite  calmly. 

"A  boat!"  she  cried.  "Oh,  Nina,  not  our 
boat!" 

So  many  seemingly  impossible  things  had  oc- 
curred that  the  stout  life-boat  they  left  tide  se- 
curely in  a  small  dock  which  wTas  flooded  by  each 
tide  might  conceivably  have  broken  loose. 

"No,"  came  the  reassuring  answer.  "Not 
our  boat.  It  looks  like  one  of  the  native  cora- 
cles Alec  has  told  us  of.  But  it  is  empty.  At 
any  rate,  there  is  no  one  sitting  upright  in  it." 

By  this  time  the  others  had  seen  the  craft, 
which  she  was  the  first  to  detect.  In  their  anx- 
iety and  excitement  they  stood  up,  one  by  one, 
as  though  the  couple  of  feet  thus  gained  would 
give  a  better  view-point.  There  could  not  be  the 
least  doubt  that  they  were  looking  at  a  roughly- 
fashioned  but  distinctly  seaworthy  boat,  which 
danced  along  on  the  crest  of  a  rapid  current, 
and  whirled  around,  as  though  in  sport,  when 
some  black  rock  thrust  its  obstructing  fangs 
into  the  tide-way.  Apparently,  it  was  travel- 
ing quite  safely. 

Then,  as  if  to  give  them  a  really  useful  ob- 
ject lesson,  it  was  caught  between  two  rocks 
and  turned  clean  over.  A  second  somersault 


268  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

righted  it,  and,  like  the  log,  it  sped  away  to  the 
east. 

Maseden  brought  back  the  dazed  and  troubled 
wits  of  his  companions  to  the  particular  busi- 
ness in  hand. 

"See  that  you  are  properly  roped,"  he  said. 
"We're  heading  for  camp,  as  quickly  as  we  can 
get  there.  Don't  hurry  over  the  first  part  of 
the  descent,  however.  There  are  two  bad  places 
on  the  rock  face. ' ' 

They  reached  the  shore  safely,  unroped,  and 
set  off  to  walk  three  hard  miles  in  record  time. 
As  they  neared  their  refuge  they  saw  the  boat, 
now  aground  in  its  tiny  canal.  Near  at  hand 
were  the  white  embers  of  their  fire,  which  would 
soon  be  ablaze  when  fresh  logs  were  added. 
Some  washing,  stretched  on  a  line,  lent  a 
strangely  domestic  touch  to  the  encamp- 
ment. 

But  the  one  profoundly  relieving  fact  was 
self-evident.  No  party  of  marauding  Indians 
had  swooped  down  on  their  ark  and  its  stores. 
Wherever  the  derelict  boat  had  come  from,  its. 
occupants  were  not  to  be  seen  in  any  part  of 
Rotunda  Bay.  As  Maseden  put  it  tersely : 

"We  found  it  hard  enough  to  get  here.  Oth- 
ers seemed  to  have  tried  and  failed." 

Still  he  and  Sturgess  decided  to  mount  guard 
that  night.  The  girls  were  not  supposed  to 
know  of  this  new  arrangement,  until  Maseden. 


TEE  SIMPLE  LIFE  269 

was  about  to  awaken  Sturgess  for  his  second 
spell  of  sentry-go.  Then  Nina  emerged  from 
the  rear  portion  of  the  shack. 

"Lend  me  your  watch,  Alec,"  she  said  pleas- 
antly. "I'll  take  these  two  hours.  .  .  .  No, 
you  mustn't  argue,  there's  a  dear — fellow — " 
the  concluding  word  was  added  rather  hur- 
riedly, being  an  obvious  afterthought.  "I'll 
call  Madge  next,  and  it  will  be  broad  daylight 
by  the  time  her  spell  is  ended." 

"I'm  not  sleepy,"  he  murmured,  sinking  his 
voice  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  others.  "I  was 
only  going  to  rouse  C.  K.  because  he  will  be  an- 
noyed if  I  don't  stick  to  schedule." 

"I  haven't  slept  at  all,"  the  girl  confessed. 
"If  you're  not  going  to  rest,  let  us  talk.  Or, 
perhaps,  that  is  not  quite  the  right  thing  to 
do." 

"Not  if  there  was  any  real  fear  of  an  attack," 
said  Maseden,  leading  her  to  the  small  sand 
hillock  near  the  boat.  "I  am  convinced  we  are 
safe  enough,  but  I  should  never  forgive  myself 
if  the  camp  were  rushed  owing  to  our  negli- 
gence. .  .  .  Sit  here.  The  tide  is  rising.  We 
can  distinguish  the  water-line,  and  remain  un- 
seen ourselves.  Of  course,  we  should  speak 
hardly  above  a  whisper." 

Some  inequality  in  the  sloping  surface 
brought  them  rather  close  together  when  they 
sat  down.  Nina  moved,  with  a  little  laugh  of 


270  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

apology.  Her  action  was  quite  involuntary, 
but  it  nettled  Maseden. 

"I  don't  want  to  flirt  with  you,  if  that  is 
what  you  are  afraid  of, ' '  he  grunted.  ' i  In  pres- 
ent conditions  spooning  would  be  rather  absurd. 
Not  that  my  particular  sort  of  marriage  tie 
would  restrain  me.  Don't  think  it.  Enforced 
obedience  of  that  sort  is  foreign  to  my 
nature. ' ' 

"I  gather  that  you  really  want  to  quarrel 
with  me, ' '  was  the  glib  answer. 

Of  course,  any  woman  of  average  wit  could 
have  put  a  man  in  the  wrong  at  once  with  equal 
readiness  though  given  a  far  less  vulnerable 
opening,  but  Maseden  realized  his  blunder  and 
drew  back. 

"A  too  strenuous  life  seems  to  have  spoiled 
my  temper,"  he  said.  "I  used  to  be  regarded 
as  a  somewhat  easy-going  person." 

"Probably  that  was  because  you  had  things 
all  your  own  way." 

"You  may  be  right.  A  man  is  the  poorest 
judge  of  his  own  virtues  or  faults.  For  in- 
stance, I  have  always  prided  myself  on  a  cer- 
tain quality  of  quick  decision,  once  my  mind 
was  made  up.  But  of  late  I  find  myself  lacking 
even  in  that  respect." 

"Isn't  it  possible  you  are  not  actually  sure 
of  your  own  mind?" 

"Shall  I  submit  the  case  to  you?" 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  271 

"Would  that  be  wise?  I  would  remind 
you  of  your  own  phrase — in  present  condi- 
tions." 

"But  I  think  you  ought  to  know,"  he  per- 
sisted. "Weeks  ago,  on  the  day  you  shot  the 
sea-lion,  in  fact,  C.  K.  told  me  he  meant  to 
marry  Madge,  if  the  lady  is  willing,  that  is.  The 
statement  startled  me,  to  put  it  mildly.  I  rather 
scoffed  at  it,  which  nettled  him,  naturally.  I 
was  on  the  point  of  acquainting  him  with  the 
facts,  but  was  stopped  by  the  gun-shot.  Since 
then  he  has  never  mentioned  the  matter  again, 
and  I  have  been  averse  from  pulling  it  in  by  the 
scruff  of  the  neck — " 

"Why  do  so  now?"  put  in  the  girl  quickly. 

He  could  not  see  her  face,  but  the  note  of 
alarm  in  her  voice  was  not  even  disguised. 

"Because,  day  by  day,  I  see  more  and  more 
clearly  that  our  friend's  love  of  your  sister  is 
a  very  real  thing.  I  see,  too,  or  think  that  I  see, 
a  response  on  her  part.  From  a  common  sense 
point  of  view,  what  else  could  one  expect  ?  Two 
young  people,  each  eminently  agreeable,  are 
thrown  together  by  fate  in  circumstances  of 
great  and  continuous  personal  danger.  The 
artificial  intercourse  of  civilized  life  is  impossi- 
ble from  the  outset.  They  see  each  other  as  they 
really  are.  Each  has  to  depend  on  real  charac- 
teristics, not  on  shams.  Can  one  imagine  a  more 
ideal  method  of  choosing  one's  future  partner 


272  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

than  those  in  which  we  have  lived  during  the 
past  month?" 

This  was  what  lawyers  call  a  leading  ques- 
tion, and  Nina  shied  at  it  instantly. 

"Everything  you  have  said  may  be  true, 
Alec,"  she  said,  "but  you  have  advanced  no 
reason  whatever  for  disturbing  our  pleasant 
relations.  Surely  all  these  problems  may  be 
allowed  to  settle  themselves  when,  if  ever,  we 
re-enter  the  everyday  world?" 

"That  is  just  my  difficulty,"  continued  Mase- 
den  doggedly;  he  was  resolved  now  to  have  an 
irritating  hindrance  to  pleasant  relations  set- 
tled once  and  for  all.  "Is  it  fair  to  Sturgess 
to  let  him  believe  there  is  no  bar  to  his  wooing? 
Of  course,  my  marriage  was  a  farce,  and  can  be 
dismissed  as  such.  But  what  will  C.  K.  think, 
what  will  he  say,  when  he  hears  of  it?  Won't 
our  silence — yes,  our  silence — you  cannot  shirk 
a  part  of  the  responsibility — be  open  to  misin- 
terpretation? May  it  not  bring  about  the  very 
catastrophe  we  want  to  avoid?" 

"I  really  don't  understand,"  said  the  girl  in 
a  frightened  way. 

"Then  I  must  make  my  meaning  clear,  even 
though  it  hurts,"  he  said  determinedly.  "If  I 
tell  Sturgess  now  about  the  Cartagena  cere- 
mony, though  rather  late  in  the  day,  it  is  not 
too  late;  whereas,  if  I  wait  till  we  reach  New 
York,  how  astounded  and  mystified  he  will  be 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  273 

by  the  legal  process  which  I  must  set  on  foot 
to  secure  your  sister's  freedom  and  my  own! 
Why,  the  result  might  be  tragic.  If  C.  K. 
knows  now,  he  can,  if  he  chooses,  seek  from 
Madge  an  explanation  of  the  whole  mad  busi- 
ness. She  may  give  or  withhold  it — that  is  for 
her  to  decide.  But  at  least  we  shall  all  be  act- 
ing squarely  and  above-board.  I  put  it  to  yon 
strongly,  for  the  sake  of  each  one  of  us,  that 
Sturgess  should  be  told  the  whole  truth." 

For  a  little  while  there  was  silence.  Nina 
seemed  to  be  weighing  the  pros  and  cons  of  the 
matter  with  much  care. 

"I  think  you  are  right,"  she  said  at  last.  "I 
differ  from  you  only  in  a  small  but — to  a  woman 
— very  important  particular.  Madge,  not  you, 
should  tell  C.  K.  what  happened  in  Cartagena. 
It  is  her  privilege.  It  will  come  better  from  her. 
In  the  morning,  when  opportunity  offers,  she 
and  I  will  talk  things  over.  I  am  sure  I  can 
persuade  her  as  to  the  course  she  should  adopt. 

"Leave  it  to  me,  Alec.  Before  to-morrow 
evening  C.  K.  shall  have  heard  the  full  story 
of  that  unfortunate  marriage.  He  will  tell  you 
so  himself.  After  that,  I  suppose,  your  trou- 
bled conscience  will  be  at  rest,  and  the  matter 
need  not  be  discussed  further  until  it  comes  be- 
fore the  courts." 

"I  seem  to  have  annoyed  you  pretty  badly 
by  raising  the  point  now,"  said  Maseden. 


274  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

" No,  indeed!  It  is  not  so.  In  a  sense,  I  am 
glad.  My  sister  and  I  are  very  dear  to  one  an- 
other, Alec,  and  no  one  likes  to  parade  the  fam- 
ily skeleton,  even  in  such  a  remote  place  as  Bo- 
tunda  Bay." 

Maseden  felt  that  he  had  bungled  the  whole 
business  rather  badly,  but  he  saw  no  ad- 
vantage in  leaving  anything  unsaid. 

"What  I  cannot  make  out,"  he  muttered 
savagely,  "is  how  I  ever  came  to  regard  you  and 
Madge  as  being  so  much  alike.  Of  course,  you 
resemble  each  other  physically,  but  in  tempera- 
ment you  are  wide  apart  as  the  poles." 

"Dear  me!  This  is  really  interesting.  In 
what  respects  do  we  differ?" 

"Madge  is  emotional,  you  are  self-contained. 
She  would  have  cried  had  I  spoken  to  her  about 
you  as  I  have  spoken  of  her  to  you,  but  you  sur- 
vey the  problem  coolly,  and  solve  it,  probably 
on  the  best  lines.  Sometimes,  you  puzzle,  at 
others,  vex  me.  You  are  ready  and  willing  to 
confide  in  Sturgess,  but  refuse  me  your  confi- 
dence. I  find  Madge  easy  to  read ;  you  remain 
an  enigma.  I  believe  you  would  almost  die 
rather  than  enlighten  me  as  to  the  true  history 
of  my  marriage." 

"Oh,  bother  your  marriage!  Can't  you  talk 
of  something  else?" 

1 1 1  am  prepared  to  talk  about  you  during  the 
next  hour." 


THE  SIMPLE  LIFE  275 

"How  boring  for  both  of  us.*' 

' '  Only  a  minute  ago  you  welcomed  my  efforts 
as  an  analyst." 

"I  was  mistook,  as  the  children  say.  These 
personal  matters  seem  ineffably  stupid  when 
one  sees  the  dawn  appearing  over  the  walls  of 
our  prison.  We  may  never  get  away  from  here, 
or  lose  our  lives  in  the  attempt.  It  will  be  of 
very  small  significance  then  as  to  why  a  sorely- 
tried  girl  agreed  to  marry  a  man  she  had  never 
seen,  and  who  was  under  sentence  to  die  before 
the  ink  was  dry  in  the  register.  .  .  .  Still,  Alec, 
I'm  pleased  we  have  had  such  a  candid  discus- 
sion. I  have  come  round  to  your  point  of  view, 
too.  It  is  not  fair  to  C.  K.  to  keep  him  in  the 
dark.  To-morrow,  as  ever  is,  if  you  don't  work 
us  so  hard  that  we  have  no  time  for  chatter,  I 
promise  you  that  Madge  shall  tell  him  every- 
thing." 

"And  me  nothing?" 

"That  is  implied  in  the  bargain,  is  it  not? 
Does  it  really  concern  you?  You  were  speak- 
ing for  C.  K.,  not  for  yourself.  .  .  .  Oh,  no, 
we're  not  going  to  re-open  the  argument.  Just 
let  matters  remain  where  they  are,  please.  I 
want  you  to  satisfy  a  woman's  curiosity  on  a 
matter  of  more  immediate  importance.  When 
do  you  purpose  leaving  here?  Shouldn't  we 
start  soon?  At  this  season  we  have  fine  weather 


276  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

of  a  sort.  Don't  we  incur  a  good  deal  of  risk  by 
each  week  of  delay?" 

"Hullo,  you  two !"  came  a  cherry  voice.  "A 
nice  bunco  game  you've  played  on  me!  There 
was  I,  snoring  like  a  hog,  while  you  were  spoon- 
ing under  the  stars.  Wise  Alec  and  Naughty 
Nina !  But  wait  till  I  tell  your  poor  deluded  sis- 
ter. A  whole  tribe  of  Indians  could  have  crept 
up  and  tomahawked  you  where  you  sat. ' ' 

They  started  apart,  almost  guiltily.  Each 
shared  the  same  thought.  How  much,  or  how 
little,  had  Sturgess  heard? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   DOWRY 

BOTH  Maseden  and  Nina  looked  and  felt  like 
tongued-tied  children,  and  Sturgess  was  not 
slow  to  note  their  confusion. 

"Gee,  if  there  was  an  orchard  anywhere 
around,  I'd  think  you  two  had  been  stealing  ap- 
ples," he  cried.  "Sorry,  Nina,  if  I've  butted 
in  on  a  heart-to-heart  talk,  but  it's  not  often  I 
can  josh  our  wise  Alec,  so  I'm  bound  to  take  the 
few  chances  that  come  along." 

He  little  knew  evidently  how  closely  their 
talk  had  concerned  him,  and  the  fact  that  he 
had  not  overheard  anything  which  would  sup- 
ply a  clue  to  the  topic  under  discussion  was,  in 
itself,  a  great  relief. 

"Nina  appeared  when  I  was  about  to  call 
you,"  said  Maseden  quietly.  "She  demanded 
her  share  of  the  watch,  and  as  I  was  not  in- 
clined for  sleep  I  remained  on  duty.  Of  course 
that  is  no  excuse  for  an  inattentive  sentry.  I 
propose  that  you  shoot  me  straight  off  and  im- 
prison Nina  for  the  remainder  of  her  natural 
life." 

"I  sentence  the  pair  of  you  to  rest  until  break- 

277 


278  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

fast  is  ready.  There 's  no  appeal  from  the  court. 
About,  turn !  Quick,  march ! ' ' 

Nina  hurried  away.  Maseden,  thinking  he 
would  not  be  able  to  close  an  eye,  followed  her 
slowly,  lay  down,  and  was  soon  asleep. 

The  boat's  stores  had  revealed  neither  soap 
nor  towels,  so  the  early  morning  wash  remained 
a  primitive  affair.  A  pool  in  the  stream  was 
set  apart  for  the  girls,  while  the  men  scrubbed 
among  the  rocks.  Sturgess  aroused  Maseden  a 
few  minutes  before  breakfast  was  ready. 

"Come  this  way,"  he  said,  nodding  in  the 
direction  of  the  boat.  "I  want  to  show  you 
something. ' ' 

Maseden  noticed  that  the  other  man's  hands 
and  moccasins  were  soiled  with  the  whitish- 
brown  deposit  through  which  a  channel  for  the 
boat  had  been  delved.  Then  he  saw  that  no 
small  part  of  the  said  channel  was  blocked  by 
the  debris  of  a  fresh  excavation. 

Now,  among  the  treasures  on  the  boat  were 
a  couple  of  axes.  Given  an  ax,  some  spice  of 
ingenuity  and  a  fair  stock  of  patience,  and  any 
man  can  fashion  an  astonishing  variety  of  use- 
ful articles.  Singularly  enough,  Sturgess,  who 
was  gifted  with  the  artist's  sense  of  proportion, 
could  hew  a  spade  out  of  a  plank  more  skillfully 
than  Maseden,  and  he  was  inordinately  proud  of 
the  achievement. 

"What  the  deuce  have  you  been  up  to?"  de- 


THE  DOWRY  279 

manded  Maseden  at  sight  of  so  muck  misdi- 
rected industry. 

"You  wouldn't  guess  in  a  week,"  was  the 
complacent  answer.  "This  morning  I  was 
standing  around  doing  nothing,  when,  as  the 
tide  fell,  I  spotted  a  bulge  in  the  right  bank  of 
our  canal.  I  wondered  what  had  caused  it,  after 
our  trouble  in  lining  the  walls  with  stakes,  so 
I  nosed  around  with  a  shovel.  Then  I  got  all 
fussed  up,  and  didn't  care  where  I  threw  the 
dirt.  .  .  .  See  what  I've  found,  old  scout!" 

By  this  time  they  were  in  the  trench,  from 
which  the  tide  had  only  recently  receded.  Stur- 
gess's  zeal  had  cleared  away  some  two  cubic 
yards  of  silt,  and  Maseden  saw  at  once  that  a 
part  of  the  hull  of  a  small  vessel  of  some  sort 
had  been  laid  bare.  Moreover,  a  few  blows  with 
an  ax  had  removed  sufficient  of  the  rotting  tim- 
bers to  give  access  to  the  hulk's  interior. 

It  was  a  most  interesting  find.  An  old-time 
craft  had  been  brought  to  her  last  resting-place 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  spot  where  the  Southern 
Cross's  lifeboat  was  embedded.  Evidently  in 
the  course  of  years  she  had  sunk  in  the  soft 
deposit,  and  probably  formed  a  nucleus  for  a 
new  sand-bank.  At  any  rate,  she  was  com- 
pletely covered,  and  lay  there  keel  uppermost. 

4 '  Have  you  been  inside  ? ' '  said  Maseden,  eye- 
ing the  doorway  broken  by  the  ax. 

"You  bet  your  life,"  said  Sturgess. 


280  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

11  Was  the  air  foul? " 

"Fine.  I  guess  the  lime  hereabouts  attended 
to  that.  Anyhow,  I  carried  in  a  blazing  stick, 
and  it  burned  all  right." 

" Skeletons  on  board?" 

"Not  a  bone  that  I  could  see." 

"What  are  you  keeping  back,  then?  You 
can't  humbug  me,  C.  K.  There's  something  on 
your  chest.  Get  it  off ! " 

Sturgess  craned  his  neck  over  the  edge  of  the 
channel  to  make  sure  that  neither  of  the  girls 
was  near. 

"From  hints  I've  picked  up  now  and  then, 
when  Madge  felt  she  must  either  talk  or  bust, 
I've  come  to  the  conclusion  that  old  man  Gray's 
death  means  poverty  to  that  small  bunch,"  he 
said.  "Now,  I'm  pretty  well  fixed,  and  I  guess 
you'll  never  be  hard  pushed  to  buy  a  food  ticket, 
so  I  want  your  brainy  assistance  to  arrange 
things  for  the  girls'  benefit.  See?  It  should — 
kind  of — make  matters  easy — when  it  comes  to 
a  show-down." 

"What  have  you  come  across !  Spanish  treas- 
ure?" 

Maseden  peered  into  the  dimly  lighted  in- 
terior of  the  wreck.  Apparently  the  inverted 
deck  was  about  four  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
opening,  and  Sturgess  had  broken  into  the  after 
part  of  the  hull. 

"Let  me  go  ahead  and  pass  out  the  boodle," 


THE  DOWRY  281 

said  Sturgess.  "I  found  it  in  a  wooden  box, 
which  is  clamped  with  iron,  but  it  has  nearly 
fallen  to  pieces." 

He  lowered  himself  to  what  had  been  the  ceil- 
ing of  a  cabin,  and  moved  cautiously  among  a 
litter  of  rotting  wood,  evidently  the  furniture 
which  had  once  rendered  the  tiny  apartment 
habitable.  He  came  back  with  laden  hands,  and 
passed  out  a  curiously  shaped  jug,  or  flagon. 

Maseden  examined  it  critically. 

"By  Jove!"  he  cried;  "this  is  Aztec  work, 
and  hammered  out  of  solid  gold ! ' ' 

"There's  five  more  of  the  same  sort,"  said 
Sturgess,  in  a  voice  cracked  with  excitement. 
"And  this  strikes  me  as  something  worth 
while." 

He  produced  a  crudely  modeled  figure  of  a 
puma,  the  body  in  silver  and  the  head,  feet,  and 
tail  in  gold.  The  eyes  and  claws  were  of  pol- 
ished quartz,  and  were  bright  as  when  the  orna- 
'  ment  left  the  hands  of  the  Mexican  lapidary 
who  fashioned  it.  The  metals,  of  course,  were 
tarnished,  the  silver  being  black  with  age,  but 
both  men  realized  that  they  were  gazing  at  a 
splendid  specimen  of  a  long-forgotten  art. 

"How  much  of  this  sort  of  stuff  is  there?" 
said  Maseden,  his  imagination  running  riot  as 
to  the  possible  history  of  this  unrecorded  ar- 
gosy. 

"Twelve  pieces  altogether,"  chuckled  Stur- 


282  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

gess.  *  *  Six  gold  pitchers,  four  animals  and  two 
carved  dishes,  each  of  gold.  I've  rummaged 
around  carefully,  and  that's  the  lot.  For'ard 
of  this  section  is  a  hold,  and,  from  what  I  can 
make  out,  it  was  loaded  with  furs  and  cloth,  but 
the  cargo  is  all  mussed  up  with  salt  and  lime." 

"Show  me  one  of  the  dishes." 

Sturgess  brought  forth  an  oval-shaped  dish, 
made,  like  the  vessels,  of  solid  gold.  On  its 
broad  rim  were  chased  twelve  weird-looking 
creatures  which  reminded  Maseden  of  the  signs 
of  the  Zodiac ;  in  the  sunken  center  appeared  a 
very  elaborate  design  consisting  of  four  trees, 
a  bird  perched  on  the  topmost  branches  of  each. 
Long  afterwards  he  learned  that  this  car- 
toon represented,  in  Aztec  picture-writing,  the 
four  famous  chiefs  who  founded  the  Aztec  dy- 
nasty. 

At  any  rate,  he  knew  at  the  time  that  the 
hoard  which  Sturgess  had  discovered  was  of 
great  archaeological  interest,  apart  from  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  the  precious  metals,  itself  no 
small  sum. 

"We  ought  to  devote  the  necessary  time  to  a 
thorough  survey  of  the  wreck, ' '  he  said  thought- 
fully. "Meanwhile  what  have  you  at  the  back 
of  your  head  about  Nina  and  Madge?  What 
did  you  mean  by  saying  it  would  make  matters 
easier?" 

"Well,  suppose  you  and  I  agree  to  give  'em 


THE  DOWRY  283 

the  proceeds  of  the  sale,"  and  Sturgess  han- 
dled one  of  the  jugs  lovingly.  " There's  sixty 
ounces  of  pure  specie  in  this  pretty  thing  alone, 
I'll  bet.  Then,  if  it  dates  away  back,  the  price 
goes  up  like  a  rocket." 

Maseden  knew  that  the  really  important  part 
of  his  question  had  been  avoided. 

''We  must  think  it  over,"  he  said. 

1  'Think  what  over?" 

Sturgess,  whose  face  was  on  a  level  with 
Maseden 's  knees,  scowled  up  at  his  friend  with 
such  an  air  of  indignant  surprise  that  the  other 
man  laughed. 

"I  am  not  planning  a  daylight  robbery  of 
two  fatherless  orphans,"  explained  Maseden. 
"Our  difficulty  will  be  to  persuade  these  two 
to  accept  their  legitimate  half  share,  let  alone 
the  whole  of  the  plunder.  Shan't  we  give  them 
a  hail,  and  let  them  see  the  pirate 's  cache  before 
breakfast?  Because  that  is  what  it  is.  These 
things  were  stolen  from  some  Aztec  shrine. ' ' 

"Why  Aztec?" 

"Why  not?" 

"Peru  is  a  far  more  likely  place." 

"Yes,  if  these  utensils  were  not  of  Mexican 
origin.  The  signs  on  the  dishes  are  the  animal- 
names  used  in  the  Aztec  calendar." 

"Crushed  again!"  said  Sturgess,  clambering 
out  of  the  wreck.  "But  say,  professor,  how  did 
you  ever  manage  to  stow  away  those  odds  and 


284  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

ends  of  information?  I'm  your  age,  and  not 
exactly  a  fool,  but  I  never  had  time  to  read. ' ' 

"You  never  made  time,  you  mean.  If  you 
had  lived  seven  years  on  a  solitary  ranch  you 
would  be  forced  to  buy  books  and  read  them. 
My  inclination  turned  naturally  to  the  records 
of  the  country  I  lived  in.  The  stories  of  the 
Spanish  invaders  in  Mexico  to  the  north  and 
Peru  to  the  south  were  more  romantic  than  any 
novel.  You've  heard  of  Captain  Kidd,  the  buc- 
caneer, of  course,  but  I  suppose  you  know  noth- 
ing of  the  Welshman  Henry  Morgan,  and  his 
exploits  on  the  Spanish  Main  ? ' ' 

"Not  as  much  as  would  go  on  a  dime  in  big 
type." 

"Well,  Morgan  would  have  made  Kidd  shine 
his  boots  if  they  had  ever  met. ' ' 

"Gee  whiz!  Hennery  must  have  been  some 
Thug.  .  .  .  Hi,  Madge.  Where 's  Nina  ?" 

"You  two  ought  to  have  been  washed  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  ago,"  came  Madge's  wrathful 
cry.  "I've  been  looking  for  you  everywhere. 
Breakfast  will  be  spoiled!" 

"Madge  is  quite  right,"  said  Maseden. 
"Breakfast  is  more  important  than  loot.  Eat 
first,  and  discuss  the  pile  afterwards." 

This  sound  advice  availed  him  or  Sturgess 
little  afterwards.  Both  girls  were  vexed  that 
the  discovery  was  kept  from  them  even  during 
that  short  space  of  half  an  hour.  They  were 


THE  DOWRY  285 

placated,  however,  by  being  allowed  to  share  in 
the  labor  of  clearing  a  sufficient  area  around 
and  above  the  wreck  to  permit  of  its  exact  size 
being  ascertained.  It  was  only  a  small  craft, 
the  keel  measuring  some  fifty  feet  in  length, 
yet,  as  Maseden  was  careful  to  point  out,  the 
early  navigators  deemed  such  vessels  large 
enough  to  cross  the  mighty  Atlantic. 

When  the  tide  rose,  and  the  wreck  was 
flooded  again,  it  floated.  This  was  foreseen, 
and  the  expectant  watchers  had  a  number  of 
stout  poles  in  readiness,  with  which  they  under- 
pinned the  hull  on  one  side.  Thus  it  was  ren- 
dered much  easier  of  access  later. 

Beyond  a  couple  of  beautifully  carved  and 
chased  rapiers,  the  blades  of  which  were  largely 
protected  by  leather  scabbards  hardened  by  salt 
water,  and  a  number  of  copper  cooking  utensils, 
they  found  nothing  more  of  value.  The  cargo, 
which  appeared  to  have  been  furs  and  mats  of 
painted  reeds,  was  wholly  destroyed.  The  ves- 
sel had  carried  two  masts,  whose  stumps,  broken 
off  short  near  the  deck,  seemed  to  indicate  the 
mischance  which  had  befallen  her  in  the  Pacific. 
There  were  no  cannon  or  other  arms  of  any  sort 
in  or  under  the  wreck,  but  as  she  had  surely 
come  there  by  way  of  Providence  Beach  and 
.Hell  Gate,  she  had  probably  rolled  over  count- 
less times  during  the  journey. 

She  was  built  of  oak.    The  bluff  bows  and 


286  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

high-pitched  forecastle  and  poop  dated  her  as 
a  product  of  the  early  seventeenth  century.  No 
trace  of  a  name  was  discernible,  but  the  bul- 
warks had  been  torn  off.  The  absence  of  an 
elaborate  figurehead  was  significant.  She  was 
a  strongly  constructed,  but  not  highly  finished 
little  ship. 

As  to  her  history  or  nationality,  the  only 
reliable  tokens  were  the  swords,  which  were 
Spanish,  with  Toledo  blades.  The  copper  cook- 
ing-pots were  Mexican.  In  a  word,  she  was 
ostensibly  a  trader,  and  Maseden  believed  that 
the  iron-clamped  box  containing  the  treasure 
had  been  hidden  beneath  the  floor  of  the  cabin, 
because  the  planks  were  broken  where  the  heavy 
package  had  apparently  fallen  through. 

One  thing  was  certain.  The  similarity  of  the 
six  flagons,  the  two  dishes  and  the  four  animal 
figures  showed  that  they  came  from  an  Aztec 
teocalli,  or  temple,  of  great  wealth  and  impor- 
tance. It  was  highly  improbable  that  any  town 
on  the  west  coast  of  Mexico  contained  any  such 
fame.  If,  therefore,  they  had  been  looted  from 
the  interior  of  the  country,  a  reasonable  as- 
sumption was  that  some  band  of  Spanish  adven- 
turers, finding  the  way  hopelessly  blocked  to 
the  east,  fought  their  Way  westward,  and  act- 
ually built  the  vessel  which  should  convey  them 
to  far-off  Cadiz. 

It  was  a  strange  hap  that  laid  bare  their 


THE  DOWRY  287 

plunder  to  the  eyes  of  four  descendants  of  the 
race  which  was  destined  to  sweep  them  and  their 
barbarous  methods  off  the  high  seas. 

After  a  day  of  hard  work  and  many  thrills, 
Maseden  was  moved  to  accept  the  discovery  as 
a  good  omen. 

"I  had  in  my  mind  to  suggest  that  we  should 
renew  our  voyage  by  to-morrow's  first  tide/* 
he  said,  as  they  sat  near  the  camp-fire  after  the 
evening  meal.  "Just  as  the  Romans  consulted 
the  oracle  before  starting  on  any  great  under- 
taking, so  have  we  been  given  a  happy  augury 
by  having  thrust  into  our  hands,  so  to  speak, 
a  notable  treasure.  Friends,  I  propose  that 
we  accept  the  decision  of  the  gods,  and  weigh 
anchor  in  the  morning." 

For  no  assignable  reason,  the  suddenness  of 
this  resolve  seemed  to  startle  the  others. 

"Have  you  made  up  your  mind,  then,  that 
the  channel  is  practicable?"  inquired  Sturgess 
after  a  marked  pause. 

"The  only  channel  we  know  is  practicable," 
said  Maseden. 

"Do  you  mean  that  we  should  return  the  way 
we  came  f ' '  put  in  Nina  in  an  awed  tone. 

"It  offers  our  only  means  of  escape,"  was 
the  grave  answer.  "To  my  mind,  if  we  attempt 
the  southern  exit  we  go  to  certain  death.  We 
have  a  roomy  boat,  a  sail,  and  oars.  By  putting 
off  slightly  before  high  water  we  can  reach  the 


288  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

mouth  of  the  gorge  just  on  the  turn  of  the  tide. 
I  think  we  can  get  through  without  any  real 
difficulty,  and  even  beach  our  boat  in  the  open 
and  shallow  channel  of  Hanover  Island  which 
we  were  making  for  when  the  raft  was  swept  out 
of  its  course.  We  have  discussed  the  tides  many 
times,  and  we  all  believe  that  we  shall  find  our- 
selves in  the  main  tidal  stream  again  on  the 
other  side  of  that  island  opposite,"  and  he 
pointed  to  the  mass  of  black  hills  outlined 
against  the  eastern  sky.  "It  is  only  the  'lesser 
of  two  evils,'  I  admit,  but  it  yields  a  possibility; 
whereas  I  regard  any  attempt  to  navigate  the 
southern  avenue  as  absolutely  fatal." 

"Why  the  rush  for  the  morning  tide?"  quer- 
ied Sturgess. 

Then  Maseden  laughed. 

"You  have  fallen  a  victim  to  the  prospecting 
mania,"  he  said  cheerfully.  "Having  made  a 
good  strike,  you  want  to  follow  it  up.  I  don't 
blame  you.  I  believe  this  beach  would  pay  well 
for  digging.  Before  you  were  through  with  the 
search  you  would  have  a  fine  collection  of  odds 
and  ends.  But  I'm  minded  to  be  superstitious 
for  once.  That  puma  with  the  glistening  eyes 
lias  seemed  to  wink  at  me  all  day  and  say  'Get 
me  and  yourself  out  of  this  quick!'  I  don't 
want  to  impose  my  wishes  on  you  others,  but 
my  advice  is :  Start  to-morrow ! ' ' 

Madge,  listening  intently,  nodded. 


THE  DOWRY  289 

"You  are  always  right,"  she  said  emphati- 
cally. "  'Whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go;  and 
where  thou  lodgest — ' 

She  hesitated,  as  though  conscious  that  her 
tongue  was  running  away  with  her.  The  quo- 
tation, though  apt,  was  peculiarly  infelicitous. 
It  did  not  please  Sturgess ;  it  reminded  Maseden 
of  an  extraordinary  relationship  which  he  had 
tried  in  vain  to  ignore;  it  jarred  on  Nina 
Forbes 's  sensitiveness,  because  it  recalled  the 
promise  she  had  made  at  dawn  but  had  not  had 
any  opportunity  of  fulfilling. 

She  it  was  who  broke  up  the  conclave 
abruptly  by  springing  to  her  feet. 

"If  we're  going  sailing  the  angry  seas  to- 
morrow, it's  high  time  we  were  trying  to  sleep," 
she  said.  *  *  Come,  Madge.  .  .  .  By  the  way,  is 
there  to  be  any  more  guard-mounting  to- 
night?" 

"Yes,  and  you  have  no  concern  therein,"  said 
Maseden  firmly. 

"Who's  keeping  guard?"  inquired  Madge. 
"This  is  the  first  I've  heard  of  it." 

"Alec  has  had  an  attack  of  the  fidgets  ever 
since  he  saw  that  empty  coracle,"  said  Nina. 
"But  I'm  the  worst  sort  of  sentry,  anyhow,  and 
you  would  be  no  better,  dear,  so  let  us  snooze 
selfishly,  and  be  ready  to  help  the  men  in  to- 
morrow's hard  work." 

"I've  never  before  known  a  verse  from  the 


290  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Bible  break  up  a  meeting  like  that,"  commented 
Sturgess  thoughtfully  when  the  girls  had  gone. 
"  Somebody  might  have  heaved  a  tin  of  kero- 
sene into  the  fire,  the  way  Nina  jumped  up." 

"The  words  may  have  evoked  distressing 
memories,"  said  Maseden  incautiously. 

"As  how?" 

Sturgess 's  alert  brain  was  very  wide  awake 
at  that  moment,  but  Maseden  contrived  to  extri- 
cate himself. 

"That  famous  phrase  of  Ruth's  contains  the 
essence  of  an  otherwise  uninteresting  Biblical 
story,"  he  said.  "If  Ruth  had  not  been  so 
faithful  to  her  mother-in-law  we  might  never 
have  heard  of  her." 

"Was  Naomi  her  mother-in-law?" 

"Yes.  Ruth,  herself  a  widow,  married 
Boaz." 

"I  guess  I  was  sort  of  mixed  up  about  it." 

"Lots  of  people  are,"  said  Maseden  dryly, 
and  the  subject  dropped. 

They  were  astir  early  and,  when  the  tide 
served,  put  off  with  as  little  ceremony  as 
though  they  were  going  on  a  river  picnic. 

The  boat,  of  course,  was  far  more  easily  man- 
aged than  the  raft.  By  keeping  in  the  slack 
water  inshore  they  contrived  to  reach  the  mouth 
of  the  gorge  about  the  beginning  of  the  ebb,  and 
their  calculations  were  completely  verified  by 


THE  DOWRY  291 

the  smoothness  and  safety  of  their  subsequent 
passage. 

Maseden  stood  in  the  bows  with  an  oar  in 
readiness  to  sheer  away  from  any  obstruction 
in  mid-stream.  The  two  girls  each  took  an  oar, 
and  Sturgess  steered,  also  with  an  oar,  as  the 
broad-bladed  rudder  ran  a  foot  deeper  than  the 
keel,  being  intended  to  act  as  a  center-board 
when  the  sail  was  in  use. 

So  preoccupied  were  they  with  their  task  that 
they  hardly  noticed  the  spot  where  the  cliff  had 
fallen  away  soon  after  they  had  passed  be- 
neath. Even  the  canopied  rock  on  which  they 
found  sanctuary  after  the  loss  of  the  raft 
merely  attracted  a  momentary  glance.  Madge, 
eyeing  the  fissure  which  had  so  terrified  her, 
was  about  to  say  something  when  a  warning 
shout  from  Maseden  caused  her  to  pull  a  few 
vigorous  strokes. 

They  sheered  past  a  flat  boulder.  A  couple 
of  vultures,  scared  by  the  unwonted  apparition 
of  a  boat,  flapped  aloft,  and  they  all  saw, 
stretched  on  the  rock,  some  portions  of  a  human 
skeleton  which  most  certainly  had  not  been  there 
when  they  came  that  way  little  more  than  a  fort- 
night earlier. 

The  uncanny  sight  vanished  as  swiftly  as  it 
came.  None  spoke.  The  pace  of  the  stream 
was  quickening,  and  each  had  to  be  in  instant 
readiness  to  obey  orders. 


292  Hlti  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

At  this  stage  Maseden  asked  the  girls  to  re- 
verse their  positions  and  pull  steadily.  In  con- 
sequence they  were  backing  water,  and  thus 
checking  the  boat's  way  appreciably.  By  this 
means  they  rounded  an  awkward  corner  with- 
out any  trouble,  and  again  their  eyes  dwelt  on 
the  towering  hills  and  wooded  slopes  of  Han- 
over Island. 

Maseden  and  Sturgess  now  began  to  press  lat- 
erally towards  the  eastern  channel.  Two  possi- 
ble openings  were  abandoned  because  of  the 
ugly  reefs  sighted  only  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  away.  At  last,  when  practically  in  the 
center  of  a  two-mile-wide  passage  between  the 
three  islands,  Maseden  saw  a  long  stretch  of 
open  water. 

Shipping  a  pair  of  oars,  and  leaving  the  steer- 
ing and  general  look-out  to  Sturgess,  he  called 
on  the  girls  to  pull  in  the  orthodox  way.  The 
three  bent  to  the  task.  After  ten  minutes  of 
really  strenuous  effort  they  were  sensible  of  a 
greatly  diminished  drag  in  the  current.  Five 
minutes  later  they  were  in  slack  water,  and 
speedily  thereafter  the  boat  ran  aground. 

"Hooray!"  yelled  Sturgess,  who  alone  had 
any  breath  left  to  celebrate  their  victory.  Some- 
how, little  as  they  had  gained  in  actual  distance, 
since  Providence  Beach  was  only  three  miles 
away,  they  all  felt  that  their  chief  enemy  was 
conquered.  They  had  profited  by  the  initial 


THE  DOWRY  293 

mistake  of  keeping  in  mid-channel;  they  had 
learned  a  great  deal  about  the  tricks  and 
changes  of  the  Pacific  tides ;  they  had  secured  a 
first-rate  boat,  and,  lodged  in  skins  as  a  portion 
of  the  ballast,  was  a  treasure  of  no  mean  pro- 
portions. 

Small  wonder  that  they  were  elated,  or  that 
Maseden's  strong  face  softened  into  a  smile 
of  satisfaction  as  he  drove  the  boat's  anchor 
securely  into  a  crevice  in  the  rocky  beach. 

But  he  neither  forgot  the  skeleton  on  the  rock 
in  Hell  Gate  nor  failed  to  interpret  correctly 
its  sinister  message,  so  it  was  his  careful  scru- 
tiny that  first  revealed  a  figure  lying  on  the 
shore  at  high-water  mark  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  to  the  east.  He  surveyed  it  steadily  for  a 
while  until  the  others,  too,  saw  it.  Then  he 
made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  only  practicable 
course  of  action.  He  unhooked  the  anchor. 

1 '  All  hands  overboard, ' '  he  said  quietly.  ' '  We 
must  get  the  boat  afloat." 

They  obeyed  instantly.  The  girls  returned  on 
board,  their  task  being  to  steady  the  boat  with 
the  oars.  Maseden  took  a  cudgel,  which  he  pre- 
ferred to  a  sword,  and  hurried  towards  the 
prone  figure.  Sturgess  followed,  some  fifty 
yards  behind,  with  the  rifle,  his  mission  being  to 
cover  the  retreat,  if  need  be. 

Neither  Nina  nor  Madge  uttered  a  word. 
They  were  becoming  hardened  to  danger.  They 


294  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

knew  full  well  that,  for  some  unimaginable  rea- 
son, a  territory  hitherto  closed  to  Indians  was 
now  open  to  them,  and  Maseden  had  left  his 
companions  under  no  delusions  as  to  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  wretched  tribes  which  infest 
the  lower  coast  and  islands  of  Chile. 

But  the  particular  business  of  the  women  at 
the  moment  was  to  keep  the  boat  in  such  a  posi- 
tion that  the  men  could  jump  in  and  shove  off 
into  deep  water  without  delay,  and  they  at- 
tended to  that  and  nothing  else. 

War  makes  soldiers,  and  the  struggle  for  life 
had  assuredly  made  these  two  girls  brave 
women. 


CHAPTEE  XVII 

BUNKING    THE    GANTLET 

MASEDEN  was  not  greatly  concerned  about  the 
dead  Indian  lying  on  the  shore.  What  he  really 
expected  was  a  sudden  rush  of  savages  from  an 
ambuscade,  since  it  was  now  certain  that  a  party 
of  natives  had  descended  on  Hanover  Island. 
Some  might  have  escaped,  but  others  had  come 
to  grief. 

The  mere  presence  of  a  body  showed  that  one, 
at  least,  must  have  died  quite  recently,  while 
the  bleaching  bones  passed  in  Hell  Gate  had 
probably  been  alive  two  days  earlier.  Some 
vultures  were  already  circling  high  overhead, 
and  he  wondered  why  the  birds  had  not  begun 
their  ghoulish  task. 

He  could  not  recollect  what  manner  of  sepul- 
ture the  aborigines  adopted,  but,  from  every 
point  of  view,  it  was  more  than  strange  to  find 
a  corpse  abandoned  on  the  beach  in  such  condi- 
tions, unless,  indeed,  some  drowned  man  had 
just  been  cast  up  there  by  the  receding  tide. 

If  that  were  so,  why  did  the  vultures  wait  I 

He  was  on  the  alert,  therefore,  for  any  sus- 
picious movement  among  the  nearest  trees  and 

.  295 


296  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

tall  grasses,  and  warned  Sturgess  to  keep  a 
sharp  lookout  in  the  same  direction. 

11  These  natives  are  treacherous  brutes,"  he 
said.  *  *  They  may  have  seen  that  our  boat  was 
heading  this  way,  and  be  simply  waiting  an 
opportunity  to  stick  harpoons  into  us.  Don't 
shoot  actually  on  sight,  but  be  ready  to  put  a 
stopper  on  anything  like  an  attack." 

The  words  had  hardly  left  his  lips  when  the 
body  on  the  beach  moved!  Slowly  and,  as  it 
seemed,  painfully,  the  Indian  raised  head  and 
shoulders,  and  turned  in  the  direction  of  the 
voice,  finally  sitting  up  sideways  and  using  the 
right  arm  as  a  support. 

Then,  as  Maseden  drew  near,  he  saw  that  this 
was  not  a  man,  but  a  woman,  a  woman  so  ema- 
ciated and  feeble  that  the  first  astonished  glance 
he  took  her  to  be  middle-aged,  whereas,  in 
reality,  she  was  not  yet  eighteen.  She  was 
stark  naked,  and  he  soon  discovered  that  her  left 
leg  was  broken. 

The  unfortunate  wretch  had  dragged  herself 
to  an  oyster  bed,  as  an  array  of  freshly  opened 
shells  testified;  but  there  was  no  great  supply 
in  that  place;  the  water  was  too  shallow.  At 
any  rate,  Maseden  had  no  other  means  of  esti- 
mating how  long  she  had  been  there;  indeed, 
he  gave  little  thought  to  that  consideration,  be- 
cause the  problem  of  what  to  do  with  her  arose 
instantly. 


RUNNING  TEE  GANTLET         297 

He  argued,  however,  that  the  members  of  her 
tribe  could  not  be  close  at  hand,  since  the  merest 
instinct  of  self-preservation  would  lead  them  to 
assist  one  of  their  number  rendered  helpless 
by  an  accident,  though,  among  these  wild  folk, 
an  old  woman  might  be  regarded  as  of  no  ac- 
count. 

He  spoke  to  her  in  Spanish,  asking  what  had 
happened,  and  she  appeared -to  have  a  vague 
sense  of  his  meaning;  but  her  eyes  were  glis- 
tening with  terror  and  fever,  and  he  could  make 
nothing  of  a  mumbled  reply  except  a  word  that 
sounded  like  liumo,  " smoke."  She  showed  ex- 
treme fear  at  sight  of  the  gun  carried  by  Stur- 
gess.  Holding  out  her  left  hand  as  if  pleading 
for  mercy,  she  collapsed  with  a  groan. 

Sturgess,  of  course,  was  as  fully  aware  as  his 
companion  of  the  difficulties  raised  by  the  dis- 
covery of  this  maimed  creature. 

"Well,  by  way  of  a  change,  Alec,  I  guess 
we're  up  against  a  mighty  tough  proposition," 
he  said,  scratching  his  head  in  sheer  perplexity. 

"We  have  only  one  course  open,  I  take  it," 
said  Maseden,  though  he,  like  Sturgess,  felt  that 
they  might  well  have  been  spared  this  addi- 
tional burden. 

"That's  so.  But — are  broken  legs  in  your 
line?" 

"I  have  a  notion  that  the  bone-setter  has  to 
straighten  and  adjust  the  fracture  by  main 


298  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

force,  and  then  bind  the  limb  tightly,  leaving 
the  rest  to  nature.  We  have  a  spare  oar.  Chop 
the  blade  into  two  lengths  of  about  fifteen 
inches,  and  get  the  girls  to  cut  narrow  strips 
out  of  the  canvas  cover.  Bring  me  my  oilskin, 
and  what  is  left  of  the  cover.  We  can  carry  her 
in  that.  Leave  the  rifle  with  me — and  hurry! 
On  no  account  must  either  Nina  or  Madge  come 
away  from  the  boat.  Be  sure  and  impress  that 
on  them.  We  may  have  to  run  for  our  lives  any 
second." 

Sturgess  soon  returned  with  the  improvised 
splints  and  bandages.  He  also  brought  a  tin 
of  beef  essence  which  Madge  had  found  among 
the  boat's  stores  and  was  hoarding  carefully 
for  such  Lucullian  feast  when  soup  would  ap- 
pear on  the  menu. 

When  Maseden  spoke  of  the  remains  of  the 
canvas  cover  he  had  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 
girls  had  fashioned  the  greater  part  of  the 
coarse  material  into  divided  skirts.  Seals  were 
not  plentiful  in  Rotunda  Bay,  and  the  devising 
of  garments  had  become  a  sheer  necessity. 

They  persuaded  the  Indian  girl  to  swallow 
some  of  the  beef  extract.  After  tasting  the 
first  mouthful  she  would  have  emptied  the  tin, 
but  this  Maseden  would  not  permit,  because  he 
knew  the  ordeal  that  was  coming. 

It  was  a  tough  job,  too.  In  a  sense,  it  almost 
proved  more  trying  for  the  amateur  surgeons 


RUNNING  THE  GANTLET         299 

than  for  their  unfortunate  patient.  Luckily, 
she  fainted  at  the  first  wrench.  Then  they  set 
their  teeth  and  pulled  the  broken  bones  into 
their  correct  positions  as  well  as  they  could 
adjudge  them.  When  the  girl  revived  she  was 
already  clothed  in  the  oilskin  and  slung  in  the 
canvas  sheet  as  in  a  hammock,  while  the  limb 
was  bound  immovably  between  two  .roughly 
fashioned  splints. 

Maseden  imagined  that  this  creature  of  the 
wild  was,  in  all  probability,  as  hardy  as  a  cor- 
morant, and  equally  voracious.  At  any  rate, 
when  laid  in  the  boat,  she  gobbled  up  the 
remaining  contents  of  the  tin,  ate  ravenously 
of  ship's  biscuits  and  salt  beef,  and  drank  a 
mug  of  coffee  in  a  gulp.  When  she  discovered 
that  no  more  food  would  be  supplied  she 
yielded  to  an  evidently  overwhelming  desire  to 
sleep. 

Before  closing  her  eyes,  however,  she  had 
something  to  say.  She  was  afraid  of  the  men, 
but  obviously  placed  trust  in  the  two  girls, 
neither  of  whom  knew  a  syllable  of  Spanish  be- 
yond the  few  phrases  which  all  travelers  in 
South  America  must  perforce  acquire. 

Madge,  having  the  gift  of  music,  contrived  to 
mimic  certain  words  with  tolerable  accuracy, 
and  "smoke,"  "boats,"  "bad  men,"  seemed,  to 
Maseden 's  ear,  to  emerge  from  the  guttural  In- 
dian accents.  In  one  important  respect,  the 


300  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

wishes  of  the  new  addition  to  the  party  were 
quite  understandable.  She  pointed  to  Provi- 
dence Beach,  indicated  the  boat,  and  made  it 
clear  that  she  counselled  a  prompt  move  east- 
ward. 

At  last  Maseden  evolved  a  fairly  intelligible 
notion  of  what  she  was  endeavoring  to  convey. 
He  believed,  and  rightly  so,  that  she  was  telling 
her  rescuers  how  a  number  of  Indians  had  been 
attracted  to  Hanover  Island  by  the  smoke  of 
the  castaways '  fire.  They  assumed  a  wreck, 
with  its  prospect  of  loot,  and,  egged  on  by  greed, 
had  ultimately  dared  a  passage  hitherto  re- 
garded as  impracticable.  Some  had  been  killed ; 
others  had  escaped,  and  were  now  on  the  camp- 
ing-ground at  Providence  Beach. 

Apparently  the  girl  was  warning  these 
strangers  against  her  own  people  and  recom- 
mending a  speedy  flight  to  safer  quarters. 
Oddly  enoughj  her  advice  coincided  with  Mase- 
den's  own  views.  By  landing  on  that  part  of 
the  coast,  and  lighting  a  fire,  they  would  be 
incurring  a  grave  risk  if  there  were  Indians 
about,  since  the  few  miles  *  strip  of  shore,  diffi- 
cult though  it  was,  would  be  negotiated  easily 
by  natives. 

The  abandonment  of  the  injured  girl  he  could 
not  acount  for,  nor  was  he  sure  the  boat  had 
been  observed,  granted  even  that  Providence 
Beach  was  not  actually  occupied  by  savages. 


RUNNING  THE  GANTLET         301 

But  he  was  not  inclined  to  take  any  chances. 
Deep  water  flowed  yet  in  the  main  channel,  and 
the  day  was  not  far  advanced. 

So  he  and  Sturgess  shipped  the  oars  and 
pulled  until  they  were  weary;  before  night  fell 
they  had  met  the  rising  tide,  and  made  a  good 
landing,  not  on  Hanover  Island,  but  on  the  east- 
ern end  of  Island  Number  Two. 

They  slept  in  the  boat  as  best  they  could,  the 
men  taking  turns  at  mounting  guard,  as  in  ad- 
dition to  the  now  somewhat  improbable  chance 
of  being  attacked,  their  craft  had  to  be  maneu- 
vered into  slack  water  as  the  tide  rose  and  fell. 
They  were  all  heartily  glad  to  see  the  dawn  and 
eat  a  good  meal. 

The  very  smell  of  food  awakened  the  Indian 
girl.  Like  a  healthy  animal  recovering  from 
hardship,  she  was  growing  plumper  and  come- 
lier  under  their  very  eyes.  With  each  hour  she 
shed  a  year  in  appearance,  and  her  confidence 
increased  in  about  the  same  ration. 

When  she  discovered  that  Maseden  alone 
spoke  Spanish  she  tried  to  explain  matters  to 
him.  But  her  own  knowledge  of  the  language 
was  of  the  slightest,  and  he  was  only  able  to 
confirm  his  over-night  belief  as  to  the  danger 
of  remaining  in  the  vicinity  of  their  first  land- 
ing-place. 

Singularly  his  close  acquaintance  with  the 
San  Juan  patois  proved  most  helpful.  It  oc- 


302  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

curred  to  him  that  this  might  be  so,  as  the  root 
words  of  Indian  tribes  throughout  the  South 
American  continent  have  undergone  fewer 
changes  than  would  have  been  the  case  among 
civilized  peoples.  Many  were  in  use  among  the 
Spanish  half-castes  on  the  ranch,  and  this  ab- 
origine grasped  their  meaning  at  once.  Good 
linguist  though  he  was,  however,  Maseden  failed 
to  extract  more  than  a  glimmering  of  sense  from 
her  uncouth  accents. 

But  none  could  fail  to  be  impressed  by  her  re- 
lief when  the  boat  was  afloat  and  traveling 
east.  They  soon  quitted  the  channel  between 
the  islands  and  entered  the  wide  expanse  of 
Nelson  Straits.  The  weather  was  fine,  and  a 
steady  wind  from  the  southwest  encouraged 
Maseden  to  rig  the  sail. 

Having  a  wholesome  respect  for  the  Pacific 
tides,  he  meant  to  hug  the  coast  of  Hanover 
Island.  But  after  studying  the  clouds  intently 
for  an  hour,  the  Indian  girl  signified  that  she 
wished  to  be  lifted  in  her  hammock.  She  then 
pointed  to  some  small  islands  just  distinguish- 
able on  the  horizon,  and  apparently  situated  in 
the  middle  of  the  straits. 

She  saw  the  hesitancy  in  Maseden 's  face,  and 
by  this  time  had  evidently  singled  him  out  as 
the  leader  of  the  party.  Then  she  turned  to 
Nina  Forbes,  and  her  gestures  said  as  plainly, 
no  doubt,  as  her  words : 


RUNNING  TEE  GANTLET         303 

"If  /  can't  persuade  him,  perhaps  you  can. 
Tell  him  to  take  the  course  I  recommend. ' ' 

For  some  reason  Nina's  cheeks  grew  scarlet 
under  the  brown  tan  of  constant  exposure  to  the 
whether,  nor  did  a  pronounced  wink  by  Stur- 
gess  at  Madge  tend  to  restore  her  composure. 
But  she  met  the  Indian  girl's  appeal  with  seem- 
ing nonchalance  and  bravely  ignored  the  ob- 
vious inference. 

"I  suppose  she  thinks  that  I  may  exercise 
some  influence  in  the  matter,  Alec,"  she  said, 
striving  in  vain  to  suppress  a  nervous  little 
laugh.  "I  do  honestly  believe  she  means  well. 
She  is  extraordinarily  grateful  to  us.  I  have 
been  watching  her,  and  there  is  a  dog-like  de- 
votion in  her  eyes  when  we  render  any  little 
service  that  is  reassuring." 

"Those  islets  out  there  may  be  bare  rocks," 
protested  Maseden.  He  had  little  knowledge  of 
sailing  boats,  and  hesitated  at  a  long  trip  in 
these  fickle  waters. 

"Perhaps  that  is  why  she  wishes  us  to  go  that 
way.  They  lie  due  east,  and  that  is  something 
in  their  favor." 

Still  was  he  dubious,  largely  owing  to  the 
intervening  stretch  of  open  sea,  but  again  he 
essayed  to  question  their  would-be  pilot. 

The  girl  was  quite  emphatic  in  her  direction 
as  to  the  course,  and  equally  opposed  to  the 
more  cautious  method  he  favored.  A  good  deal 


304  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

of  this  was  expressed  in  pantomime,  but  it  was 
none  the  less  understandable. 

Finally,  finding  that  the  others  had  faith  in 
her,  Maseden  nodded  to  Madge,  who  was  at  the 
tiller,  as  the  rudder  had  been  shipped  when  the 
sail  was  hoisted;  and  the  boat  was  put  across 
the  wind.  The  Indian  girl  smiled,  and  was  sat- 
isfied. They  lifted  her  down  to  her  place  amid- 
ships, where  her  head  rested  on  the  package  of 
treasure,  and  she  remained  there  contentedly 
many  hours. 

Long  before  the  violet-hued  blurs  in  front 
took  definite  shape  as  a  group  of  two  fair-sized 
islands,  with  trees,  lying  among  a  great  many 
stark  rocks,  sticking  straight  up  out  of  the  sea, 
the  voyagers  became  aware  of  at  least  one  good 
reason  for  their  guide's  choice  of  direction. 
The  coast  of  Hanover  Island  began  to  fall  away 
sharply  to  the  northeast,  and  a  wide  gap  opened 
up  between  it  and  the  nearest  land,  a  gap  which 
must  have  been  crossed  in  any  event. 

Maseden  himself  was  the  first  to  admit  that 
they  had  been  given  sound  advice. 

Luckily  the  wind  remained  steady,  and 
brought  their  craft  on  at  a  fair  pace  against  a 
falling  tide.  Nevertheless  it  was  a  long  sail, 
far  longer  than  any  of  them  had  anticipated, 
and  the  shadows  were  deepening  when  the  men 
again  lifted  the  Indian  girl  level  with  the  gun- 
wale to  find  out  if  she  could  recommend  the 


RUNNING  TEE  GANTLET         305 

safest  way  of  approaching  a  particularly  for- 
bidding shore. 

She  understood  at  once  what  they  wanted, 
and  indicated  a  narrow  channel  between  two 
gigantic  outlying  rocks.  Though  it  was  pre- 
cisely the  one  of  three  possible  waterways  which 
no  stranger  would  have  chosen,  they  did  not 
dream  now  of  disputing  her  judgment.  The 
passage  was  made  more  easily  than  they  had 
counted  on,  and  a  second  time  was  their  faith 
justified,  because  a  strip  of  white  beach  soon 
showed  on  the  line  where  trees  and  sea  met. 

The  boat  was  run  ashore,  and  a  fire  was 
lighted.  The  weather  had  become  much  colder, 
probably  owing  to  the  absence  of  shelter  from 
the  hills  under  which  they  had  camped  during 
the  past  month.  The  Indian  girl  offered  no  ob- 
jection to  the  fire.  In  fact,  when  laid  near  it  in 
a  sand  hollow,  she  fell  asleep  long  before  any 
of  them. 

The  boat,  of  course,  had  to  be  safeguarded, 
as  they  landed  at  low  water.  Were  it  not  for 
a  fissure  in  the  rock  which  permitted  them  to 
row  fully  a  quarter  of  a  mile  nearer  high-water 
mark  than  would  have  been  possible  otherwise, 
they  must  have  devoted  a  wearisome  time  to 
the  task  of  hauling  her  in  as  the  tide  rose.  For- 
tunately, there  was  no  heavy  surf.  The  reefs 
they  had  seen  some  fifteen  miles  to  the  west- 
ward had  broken  up  the  long  Pacific  rollers,  and 


306  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  breeze  was  not  strong  enough  to  disturb 
this  inland  sea. 

Nina  and  Madge  elected  to  sleep  on  the  sand. 

"You  can  have  too  much  of  a  good  thing," 
explained  Madge  laughingly, '  *  and,  greatly  as  I 
prize  our  ark,  I  am  tired  of  it  to-day.  Every 
bone  in  my  body  is  aching. ' ' 

They  had,  of  course,  given  up  each  skin  and 
strip  of  canvas  they  possessed  in  order  to  ren- 
der the  Indian  girl  more  domfortable  during 
the  voyage,  and  a  ship's  boat  can  be  a  most  irk- 
some conveyance  in  such  circumstances. 

When  the  tide  was  high  Sturgess  and  Mase- 
den,  before  they,  too,  turned  in,  rose  to  make 
sure  that  the  anchor  could  not  drag  during  the 
night,  and  Sturgess  electrified  his  friend  by 
choosing  that  odd  moment  to  allude  to  the  Carta- 
gena marriage. 

"Say,  Alec,"  he  said,  "you  sure  have  had  the 
time  of  your  life  ever  since  you  were  hauled  off 
to  San  Juan  and  sentenced  to  be  shot. ' ' 

Maseden  imagined  that  the  New  Yorker  was 
merely  referring  to  the  incidents  following  the 
shipwreck. 

"I  don't  see  exactly  how  life  has  been  more 
of  a  sizzle  for  me  than  for  you  and  the  girls," 
he  said. 

"Ah,  come  off  it,  Alec!"  laughed  the  other. 
"You  know  better  than  that.  But  I  guess  I'll 
have  to  hand  the  explanation  on  a  tray.  Madge 


RUNNING  THE  GANTLET         307 

and  Nina  have  told  the  facts  about  your  wed- 
ding. Gosh !  What  a  jolt  it  must  have  given 
you  to  find  your  wife  on  board  the  Southern 
Cross!" 

"You  know?"  gasped  Maseden. 

"Yep.  They  up  and  told  me  while  you  were 
gathering  fire-wood.  Nina  said  she  had  prom- 
ised you  to  put  the  full  hand  on  the  table  at  the 
first  opportunity.  She 's  done  it. ' ' 

"Nina!    Didn't  Madge  say  anything V9 

"You  bet  your  life.  She  was  tickled  to  death. 
It's  been  worrying  her  no  end." 

"May  I  ask—" 

'  *  No,  you  mayn't.  It  was  square  of  you,  Alec, 
to  insist  that  I  should  come  in  on  the  inside 
track.  Of  course,  I  wasn't  born  and  bred  in 
little  old  New  York  for  nothing,  and  I  had  my 
doubts  a  while  back.  One  day,  too,  you  were 
within  an  ace  of  blurting  out  the  whole  yarn. 
I  remember  it  well.  I'm  glad  now  you  didn't. 
It  would  have  made  things  kind  of  difficult 
for  me.  But  both  girls  are  a  bit  shy  where 
you're  concerned.  You  don't  blame  'em,  do 
you?" 

Maseden  was  absolutely  bewildered.  Stur- 
gess  was  an  irresponsible,  devil-may-care  fel- 
low in  many  respects,  but  these  effervescent 
qualities  cloaked  a  fine  sensibility,  and  it  was 
astounding  to  find  him  treating  the  matter  so 
lightly. 


308  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"I — I  hardly  know  what  to  say,"  he  stam- 
mered. 

"Say  nothing.  The  tangle  will  straighten 
out  in  time.  We're  going  to  win  through  all 
right,  so  let  us  forget  the  San  Juan  affair  till 
it  overtakes  us.  You  ain't  going  to  switch  off 
from  Nina  on  to  Madge,  I  guess,  so  you  and  I 
won't  quarrel,  and  the  other  kinks  in  the  chain 
will  sort  themselves  if  we  all  go  easy." 

"Tell  me  this.  What  was  the  cause  of  the 
marriage  ? ' ' 

"I  don't  know." 

"You  don't  know?"  Each  word  was  a  cre- 
scendo of  astonishment. 

' '  No.    What  business  is  it  of  mine,  anyhow  ? ' ' 

"But  you  yourself  have  told  me  that  you 
mean  to  marry  Madge." 

"Sure  as  death." 

"Yet—" 

"Sorry,  Alec.  I've  promised  to  keep  mum. 
Suppose  we  leave  it  at  that." 

"What  is  there  to  keep  mum  about?" 

"Hanged  if  /  can  tell  you,  though  you  your- 
self haven't  been  what  you  might  call  bursting 
with  information  during  the  past  month." 

"It  was  a  woman's  secret,  C.  K." 

"And  that's  just  how  I  size  it  up  at  this  sit- 
ting." 

Sturgess  's  logic  was  unanswerable,  but  Mase- 
den  was  in  high  dudgeon  as  he  strode  back  to 


RUNNING  THE  GANTLET         309 

the  camp-fire.  He  was  far  more  angry  with 
Nina  than  with  Madge.  He  suspected  that 
Madge  simply  followed  her  sister's  instructions, 
and  the  injustice  of  this  steady  refusal  of  confi- 
dence was  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  Sturgess 
seemed  to  know  more  about  the  ins  and  outs  of 
the  affair  now  than  he  did. 

True,  the  New  Yorker  said  he  was  still  in  ig- 
norance of  the  motive  which  led  up  to  the  mar- 
riage, yet  he  had  hinted  at  the  possession  of 
knowledge  withheld  from  the  man  who  had 
saved  their  lives  not  once  but  a  dozen  times. 
Nina  was  to  blame.  Maseden  was  certain  of 
that.  He  would  have  liked  to  shake  her. 

As  it  happened,  she  was  either  sound  asleep 
or  pretending  it,  so  he,  too,  curled  up  in  the 
sand  and  slept  till  long  after  dawn. 

The  new  day  began  with  an  unexpected  diffi- 
culty. The  Indian  girl  was  cheerful  as  a  grig 
during  breakfast.  She  ascertained  their  names, 
which  she  pronounced  fairly  well.  "Nina"  she 
had  no  trouble  with.  "Madge"  she  made  into 
"Mad-je."  Maseden  was  "Ah-lek,"  and  Stur- 
gess "See-ke."  Her  own  name  had  a  barbar- 
ous sound,  if,  indeed,  it  was  a  name  at  all;  so 
Madge  christened  her  "Topsy,"  which  seemed 
to  please  her.  But  her  light-heartedness  van- 
ished when  she  saw  preparations  being  made  to 
renew  the  voyage.  She  protested  volubly, 
pointed  to  a  colony  of  seals  and  well-filled  beds 


310  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

of  oysters,  and  generally  implied  an  earnest  de- 
sire to  remain  on  the  island. 

Eastward,  it  would  appear,  were  other  "bad 
men"  and  "much  smoke,"  but,  whatsoever  her 
motive,  Maseden  sternly  overruled  her.  She 
was  greatly  distressed  when  placed  on  board 
the  boat,  and  sulked  for  a  couple  of  hours.  As 
the  coast  drew  near,  however,  she  evinced  re- 
newed anxiety,  and  signified  that  she  would  act 
as  pilot  again. 

The  land  seemed  to  be  a  replica  of  seaward 
islands ;  a  fast-running  tidal  stream  passed  due 
east  between  two  gaunt  promontories.  Accord- 
ing to  Maseden 's  reckoning  the  straits  they 
were  now  entering  should  open  into  Smyth's 
Channel,  and  he  bent  his  wits  to  the  task  of 
getting  Topsy  to  understand  that  he  wanted  to 
meet  one  of  the  big  ships  which  follow  that 
route. 

He  believed  she  understood,  but  there  could 
be  no  doubting  she  was  so  deeply  concerned  as 
to  the  probable  whereabouts  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  coast  region  that  she  gave  little  heed  to 
the  wishes  of  her  rescuers. 

Oblivious  of  the  pain  she  must  be  enduring, 
she  contrived  to  perch  herself  in  the  bows,  and 
scanned  each  bay  and  inlet  of  the  ever-narrow- 
ing passage,  though  this  was  no  subsidiary  chan- 
nel, but  a  deep  and  swift  tide-way.  The  wind 
was  strong  and  favorable  and  the  boat  was 


RUNNING  THE  GANTLET         311 

traveling  fully  eight  knots  an  hour,  a  speed 
which  no  native  craft  could  hope  to  rival.  Still, 
Topsy's  marked  uneasiness  led  Maseden  to  ex- 
amine the  rifle  and  make  sure  that  its  mechan- 
ism was  in  good  order  and  the  magazine 
charged. 

He  had  no  definite  notion  as  to  the  type  of 
weapons  used  by  the  Indians.  Nearly  all  sav- 
ages are  armed  with  spears  and  clubs,  but  he 
believed  that  a  people  so  low  in  the  social  scale 
as  these  South  American  nomads  would  not  pos- 
sess firearms.  At  any  rate,  he  bade  all  hands 
keep  a  sharp  lookout,  and  specifically  ordered 
Sturgess  and  the  girls  to  take  cover  in  the  event 
of  an  attack,  unless  an  actual  attempt  was  made 
to  board  the  boat,  in  which  case  the  girls  could 
thrust  with  the  rapiers  and  Sturgess  might  do 
good  work  with  an  ax. 

They  ran  on  several  miles  without  incident, 
and  were  beginning  to  think  that  their  gnide 
was,  perhaps,  swayed  more  by  recollection  of 
earlier  sufferings  than  by  any  active  peril  of 
the  hour,  when  Topsy,  whose  piercing  black  eyes 
were  ever  and  anon  turned  to  the  bluffs  on 
either  hand,  uttered  a  sharp  cry  and  pointed  to 
a  low  cliff  overhanging  a  bay  they  had  just 
passed  on  the  left. 

Three  thin  columns  of  smoke  were  ascending 
from  its  summit. 

Maseden  could  make  nothing  of  her  excited 


312  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

speech,  but  he  understood  her  gestures  readily, 
and  took  it  that  the  smoke  was  a  signal,  while 
the  danger,  whatever  it  may  be,  lay  ahead. 

And,  indeed,  they  had  not  long  to  wait  for  an 
explanation.  From  around  a  point  not  a  mile 
distant,  and  directly  in  front,  appeared  a  num- 
ber of  coracles,  eight  all  told,  and  each  con- 
taining two  men,  or  a  man  and  a  woman.  It 
was  clear  that  this  flotilla  meant  to  waylay 
them,  and  the  terror  exhibited  by  the  Indian 
girl  was  only  too  eloquent  as  to  the  fate  of  the 
boat's  occupants  if  they  allowed  themselves  to 
be  overpowered. 

Maseden  disposed  his  forces  promptly.  Stur- 
gess  was  given  the  tiller.  Topsy  was  put  back 
on  her  couch  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  Nina 
and  Madge  were  told  to  crouch  by  her  side  until 
their  help  was  called  for.  From  the  outset  the 
Americans  did  not  dream  of  attempting  to  par- 
ley. Topsy 's  unfeigned  dread  was  sufficient  to 
ban  any  such  quixotic  notion. 

The  coracles  were  strung  out  in  an  irregular 
line,  covering  a  width  of  about  four  hundred 
yards,  and,  in  laying  his  plans,  Maseden  re- 
called the  strategy  of  a  certain  great  admiral. 

"Head  slap  for  their  center,"  he  told  Stur- 
gess  confidently.  "That  was  Nelson's  favorite 
way  of  attack.  If  possible,  he  always  broke  the 
enemy's  line  in  two,  and  I  suppose  it  paid  him. 
I  think  these  heavy-caliber  bullets  will  rip  a 


RUNNING  THE  GANTLET         313 

tive  craft  as  though  it  were  made  of  brown  pa- 
per, and  I  should  be  able  to  sink  at  least  four 
before  the  others  can  close  in." 

Sturgess  nodded. 

''What  Nelson  says  goes,"  he  grinned. 

The  battle  opened  at  a  range  of  one  hundred 
yards,  and  Maseden's  first  shot  buckled  the 
framework  of  the  nearest  coracle,  so  that  it 
sank  like  a  stone.  There  was  a  spurt  of  steam 
as  the  fire  which  every  Indian  boat  carries 
reached  the  water,  and  two  men  swam  away 
like  otters. 

The  second  shot  struck  a  little  too  high.  It 
whizzed  through  the  craft's  hide  cover  and 
lodged  in  an  Indian's  body,  because  the  man 
yelled  frantically.  Maseden  fired  again,  and 
damaged  another  coracle. 

But  by  this  time  he  had  made  the  unpleasing 
discovery  that  these  light  skiffs  could  be  pro- 
pelled very  rapidly  for  a  short  distance.  In 
each  a  man  or  woman  was  paddling  with  furi- 
ous energy,  while  their  companions  were  using 
slings.  Small,  heavy  stones  rattled  against  and 
into  the  boat. 

Sturgess  was  struck  twice  on  the  breast  and 
left  shoulder,  and  was  only  saved  from  serious 
injury  by  the  stout  oilskin  coat  he  was  wearing. 
Even  so,  he  went  white  with  pain,  but  he  neither 
utter  a  word  nor  neglected  his  task,  which  was 
to  keep  the  sail  filled  and  the  boat  traveling. 


314  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Maseden  had  two  objects  in  mind — to  beat  off 
their  assailants  and  yet  keep  sufficient  ammuni- 
tion in  stock  lest  other  Indians  were  encoun- 
tered later.  He  sank  two  more  coracles,  and 
had  killed  or  wounded  three  men,  when  a  flint 
pebble  struck  him  on  the  head,  finding  the  exact 
spot  where  he  was  injured  during  the  wreck. 

He  sank  to  his  knees,  and  tried  to  say  some- 
thing. He  believed  he  heard  a  crash  and  some 
shouting.  Then  the  sky  and  hills  and  swift- 
running  waters  whirled  in  a  mad  dance  before 
his  eyes,  and  he  lost  consciousness. 


CHAPTER  XVTEI 

THE    SETTLEMENT 

JUST  as  before,  when  he  awoke  on  board  the 
Southern  Cross  in  surroundings  so  bewildering 
that  he  gave  up  the  effort  to  localize  them,  his 
puzzled  eyes  now  surveyed  white-painted  pan- 
elled walls,  a  brass-bound  port-light,  and  some 
tapestry  curtains.  At  any  other  time  he  would 
have  realized  at  once  that  he  was  in  a  ship's 
cabin,  but  now  an  uncomprehending  stare  soon 
yielded  to  a  torpor  of  pain. 

He  believed  that  a  gentle  hand  adjusted  a 
bandage  on  his  head,  and  was  aware  of  a  grate- 
ful coldness  where  before  there  had  been  heat 
and  a  throbbing  ache.  Afterwards — he  thought 
it  was  immediately,  though  the  interval  was  a 
full  half  hour — he  looked  again  at  the  walls  and 
ceiling  with  something  of  real  recognition  in 
his  glance. 

4 'Glad  to  see  you're  regaining  your  wits,  Mr. 
Alexander,"  said  a  man's  voice,  a  strange  but 
very  pleasant  voice.  "Lucky  for  you  you've 
got  the  right  sort  of  thick  head,  or,  from  what 
I  hear,  it  would  certainly  have  been  cracked 
twice." 

815 


316  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Mr.  Alexander!  Who  was  he?  And  where 
was  he  ?  Where  were — 

1 '  May  he  talk  a  little  now,  doctor ! ' '  and  Mase- 
den  would  have  had  to  be  very  dead  if  he  did 
not  know  that  Nina  Forbes  was  sitting  by  his 
side.  He  turned,  and  even  remembered  to  re- 
press a  groan  lest  some  one  in  authority  might 
not  grant  her  request. 

Even  so  the  doctor  was  dubious. 
1  'He  must  not  be  allowed  to  get  excited,"  he 
said. 

"Then  may  he  listen  to  me  a  minute?" 
"Yes,  if  you  really  keep  to  schedule." 
"Don't  move,  Alec!"  whispered  Nina,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  a  note  in  her  voice  that  Mase- 
den  had  heard  only  once  before,  though  he  could 
not  recall  the  occasion.  "We're  on  board  a 
mail  steamer  bound  for  England,  but  she 
touches  at  Punta  Arenas  and  Buenos  Ayres,  so 
you  must  be  'Mr.  Alexander,'  not  'Mr  Mase- 
den,'  until  we  reach  home.  Don't  ask  why  just 
now.  I'll  tell  you  to-morrow,  or  next  day,  when 
you  are  stronger.  You  will  trust  me,  won't 
you?" 

"Trust  you,  Nina!    Yes,  forever!" 

He  looked  at  her,  as  though  to  make  sure  that 

his  senses  were  not  deceiving  him  and  that  it 

was  really  Nina  Forbes  who  sat  there,  a  Nina 

with  her  hair  nicely  combed  and  coiled  and 


THE  SETTLEMENT  317 

wearing  a  particularly  attractive  pink  jersey 
and  white  serge  skirt. 

He  thought  that  her  eyes — those  frank  blue 
eyes  he  had  gazed  into  so  often — were  suffused 
with  tears. 

1  'Why  are  you  crying!"  he  demanded,  with 
just  a  hint  of  that  domineering  way  of  his. 

"Not  for  grief,"  she  said  quietly.  "But  you 
must  drink  this  now,  and  go  to  sleep.  When 
you  awaken  again,  perhaps  the  doctor  will  let 
C.  K.  come  and  chat  with  you." 

"O.K.?    Is  he  all  right?" 

"Yes." 

"And  Madge?" 

"Yes.  Not  another  word.  Drink — to  please 
me." 

"I'll  do  anything  to  please  you." 

He  swallowed  some  milk  and  soda-water; 
took  a  whole  tumbler-full,  in  fact. 

1 '  That 's  fine, "  he  said.  '  '  Now  I  '11  hold  your 
hand  and  you'll  tell  me — " 

"You're  going  to  close  your  eyes  and  lie 
still,"  she  said  firmly.  "If  you  don't  I'll  leave 
you.  If  you  do,  I'll  stay  here." 

"I'm  bribed,"  he  said,  smiling.  Soon  he 
slept,  but  this  was  nature's  healing  sleep,  not 
the  coma  of  insensibility.  When  next  he  en- 
tered a  world  of  reality  he  found  Sturgess  sit- 
ting where  Nina  had  been. 

* '  Going  strong  now,  Alec  1 ' '  inquired  his  friend. 


318  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

Maseden  did  not  answer  at  once.  He  wanted 
to  be  quite  sure  that  the  wretched  throbbing  in 
his  head  had  ceased.  Yes;  there  was  a  great 
soreness,  but  it  was  of  the  scalp,  not  of  the  in- 
ternal mechanism.  He  sat  bolt  upright. 

"Hi!"  shouted  Sturgess,  "you  mustn't  do 
that!  Gosh!  The  doctor  man  will  raise  Cain 
with  me  if  he  knows  I  let  you  move." 

"I'm  all  right,  C.  K." 

"You're  going  to  flatten  out  straight  away, 
or  I'll  shriek  for  help." 

Maseden  lay  down.  The  dominant  emotion  of 
the  moment  was  curiosity.  Perhaps,  if  he  kept 
quiet,  Sturgess  would  talk. 

At  any  rate,  the  New  Yorker  was  much  re- 
lieved, and  said  so. 

"You've  nearly  hopped  it,"  he  explained  anx- 
iously. "It  was  a  case  of  touch  and  go  with 
you  for  two  days,  and — " 

"Two  days!"  gasped  Maseden.  "Have  I 
been  stretched  here  two  days!" 

"And  more.  We  were  picked  up  by  the  Va- 
lentia  on  Thursday  evening,  and  now  it  is  Sun- 
day morning. ' ' 

"Everything  seems  to  happen  on  a  Sunday," 
said  Maseden  inconsequently ;  but  Sturgess  un- 
derstood. 

"Sunday  is  our  day,"  he  agreed.  "Now,  if 
you  don't  butt  into  the  soliloquy,  but  show  an 
intelligent  interest  by  an  occasional  nod,  I'll 


THE  SETTLEMENT  319 

switch  you  on  to  the  Information  Bureau.  The 
doc  said  I  might,  just  to  stop  you  from  worry- 
ing. 

1 '  When  an  Indian  with  a  spit  lip  got  you  with 
a  stone  at  about  five  yards  there  were  two  cora- 
cles on  each  side  of  us.  I  suspicioned  that  the 
Thugs  in  them  meant  to  spring  aboard  at  the 
same  time,  which  would  have  meant  trouble,  so 
it  was  up  to  me  to  spoil  the  combination.  I 
shoved  the  helm  hard  over  and  drove  into  the 
two  on  the  port  side.  Our  heavy  boat  went 
through  them  as  though  they  were  jelly-fish, 
and  the  sudden  rise  of  our  starboard  gunwale 
upset  the  calculations  of  the  other  crowd. 

"Everybody,  including  you,  rolled  over  with 
the  sudden  lurch,  but  Nina  gathered  herself  to- 
gether, grabbed  your  gun,  stood  straight  on  her 
feet,  and  said  to  me:  'Do  you  know  which  of 
these  men  hit  Alec?'  'Yes,'  I  said,  'that  joker 
with  the  criss-cross  mouth.  But  you  lie  down. 
We're  clear  now.'  Without  another  word  she 
drew  a  steady  bead  on  the  stone-slinger  and  got 
him  with  the  first  shot. 

1 1  Then  she  attended  to  you.  It  seemed  almost 
as  though  we  had  reached  the  limit,  with  you 
lying  like  dead,  and  me  weak  and  sick,  because 
the  slingers  gave  me  a  couple  to  begin  with,  and 
the  Indian  girl  screaming  for  all  she  was  worth. 
Nina  was  just  crooning  over  you  like  a  mother 
nursing  an  ailing  baby,  so  Madge  came  and  took 


320  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

the  tiller — not  before  time,  as  I  didn't  know 
enough  to  run  with  the  wind  again. 

"We  missed  a  howling  reef  by  a  hair's 
breadth — missed  it  only  because  the  new  course 
had  taken  us  close  inshore  towards  the  north. 
Half  an  hour  later  we  were  in  Smyth's  Channel, 
and  didn't  know  it,  so  we  would  have  been 
sailing  yet  into  the  middle  of  the  Andes  if  the 
Valentia  hadn't  bumped  around  a  corner.  Since 
then  we  three  have  been  setting  the  scene  for 
you  when  you  come  on  deck.  The  passengers 
are  the  right  sort,  every  man  and  woman  among 
'em  all  wool  and  a  yard  wide.  Tell  you  what, 
Alec — I'd  better  warn  you — Nina  and  Madge 
have  fixed  up  a  star  turn  for  you  on  your  first 
appearance." 

Sturgess  paused  to  grin  largely,  so  Maseden 
broke  in  with  a  question. 

"Are  we  at  sea  now?"  he  inquired. 

"No.  We're  anchored  at  Punta  Arenas.  The 
girls  have  gone  ashore  to  see  that  Topsy  is  well 
fixed  in  a  mission-house.  The  man  who  runs  it 
came  aboard  for  mail.  He  talks  Topsy 's  lingo, 
so  now  we  know  why  we  happened  on  her.  She 
broke  her  leg  when  one  of  half  a  dozen  coracles 
was  upset,  and  the  brutes  simply  left  her  there 
to  die,  as  they  were  in  such  a  dashed  hurry  to 
go  for  the  supposed  loot  of  a  wrecked  ship.  She 
will  be  all  right  here.  I've  attended  to  the 
financial  side  of  it.  They  tell  me  that  a 


THE  SETTLEMENT  321 

hundred  dollars  will  make  her  a  great  heiress." 

*  *  What  about  my  name — Alexander  1 ' ' 

"Gee  whiz!  I  was  nearly  forgetting.  That 
was  Nina's  notion.  She's  real  cute,  that  girl. 
She  sized  up  the  position  in  San  Juan,  and  in 
case  there  might  be  any  difficulty  while  the  ship 
is  in  South  American  waters  gave  your  name  as 
Philip  Alexander.  She  remembered  that  there 
was  a  Mr.  Alexander  on  board  the  Southern 
Cross,  and  it  would  be  just  silly  to  try  and  pass 
you  off  as  a  broncho-buster.  No  one  gave  any 
heed  to  your  clothes.  Our  collective  rig  was  so 
cubist  or  futurist,  in  general  effect,  that  your 
vaquero  outfit  passed  with  the  rest. 

"The  skipper  is  about  your  size,  and  he  has 
sent  you  a  suit.  The  girls  are  buying  linen  and 
underclothes  for  all  of  us  in  Punta  Arenas.  I 
had  no  money,  so  instead  of  borrowing  from 
the  other  people  I  went  through  your  pants  for 
five  hundred  dollars.  You'll  find  a  note  with 
your  wad,  so  that  you  can  collect  if  I  peg  out 
before  we  find  a  bank." 

Then  Maseden  laughed,  and  was  heard  by  the 
doctor,  who  was  coming  along  the  gangway. 

"Halloa!"  he  said.  "Was  it  you  who 
laughed,  Mr.  Alexander?" 

"Yes,  doctor." 

"Any  pain  in  your  head?" 

"Outside,  yes;  inside,  no." 

"Feeling  sick?" 


322  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"Sick.    I  could  eat  a  pound  of  grilled  steak." 

"You'll  do!  Wonderful  health  resort,  that 
wild  land  you've  been  wandering  through.  You 
have  survived  the  nastiest  concussion,  short  of 
absolutely  fatal  injuries,  I've  come  across.  I 
can't  prescribe  steak  just  yet,  but  if  you  get 
through  the  night  without  a  temperature  I'll 
allow  you  on  deck  to-morrow  for  a  couple  of 
hours." 

Maseden  chafed  against  the  enforced  rest,  and 
rebelled  against  a  diet  of  milk  and  beef  tea,  but 
the  doctor  was  wiser  than  he,  and  the  patient 
acknowledged  it  when  really  strong  again. 

On  the  day  the  ship  left  Buenos  Ayres  he  was 
able  to  dress  unaided  and  reach  a  chair  on 
deck  without  a  helping  arm.  The  boat  which 
had  proved  the  salvation  of  the  castaways  had 
been  hoisted  on  board,  and  that  particular  part 
of  the  deck  was  allotted  to  the  party  of  four. 
The  other  passengers  were  never  tired  of  hear- 
ing them  recount  their  adventures,  and  Mase- 
den, to  his  secret  amazement,  discovered  that 
Nina  Forbes  seemed  to  find  delight  in  attracting 
an  audience. 

Madge  and  Sturgess  could,  and  did,  stroll 
off  together  for  many  an  uninterrupted  chat, 
but  Nina  was  always  surrounded  by  a  coterie  of 
strangers,  some  of  them  men,  young  men, 
frankly  admiring  young  men. 

Maseden  endured  this  state  of  affairs  until  the 


THE  SETTLEMENT  323 

ship  had  signalled  her  name  and  destination  at 
Fernando  Noronha,  whence  there  was  a  straight 
run  home.  Then,  disobeying  the  doctor,  and 
coming  on  deck  for  the  first  time  after  dinner, 
he  found  Nina  ensconced  in  her  corner  alone. 

He  took  her  by  surprise.  She  would  have 
sprung  up,  but  he  stopped  her  with  a  firm  hand. 

"No,  you  don't,"  he  said,  pulling  a  chair 
around  and  seating  himself  so  that  his  broad 
back  offered  a  barrier  to  any  would-be  intruder. 
"You  and  I  are  going  to  have  a  heart-to-heart 
talk,  Nina.  I've  been  waiting  many  days  for 
the  chance  of  it,  and  now  is  the  time." 

She  tried  to  laugh  carelessly. 

"What  an  alarming  announcement,"  she  tit- 
tered. "Wherein  have  I  erred  that  I  am  to  be 
catechised?  Or  is  it  only  a  lecture  on  general 
behavior  1 ' ' 

"I'll  tell  you.  While  we  were  trying  to  dodge 
the  worries  of  existence  round  about  Hanover 
Island  I  gave  little  real  thought  to  my  own  af- 
fairs. But  the  calm  of  the  past  few  days  has 
enabled  me  to  sort  out  events  in  what  I  may 
term  their  natural  sequence,  and  the  second  rap 
on  the  head  may  have  restored  my  wits  to  their 
average  working  capacity.  Perhaps  it  will  sim- 
plify matters  if  I  begin  at  the  beginning.  The 
woman  I  married — " 

"Are  you  still  harping  on  that  unfortunate 
marriage?" 


324  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

The  tone  was  flippant  enough,  but  its  studied 
nonchalance  was  a  trifle  overdone. 

*  *  Yes, ' '  he  said  quietly.  ' '  I  promise  that  you 
will  not  be  bored  by  the  facts  I  intend  to  put 
before  you — now — to-night — unless  you  resolve 
not  to  listen.'* 

There  was  no  answer.  Somehow,  every 
woman  knows  just  how  far  she  may  play  with 
a  man.  Had  Nina  Forbes  chosen,  she  might 
have  sent  her  true  lover  out  of  her  life  that  in- 
stant. She  did  not  so  choose.  Indeed,  nothing 
was  further  from  her  mind.  She  did  not  com- 
mit the  error  of  imagining  that  Maseden  would 
pester  her  with  his  wooing  and  wait  her  good 
pleasure  to  yield.  His  temperament  did  not  in- 
cline to  gusts  of  passion.  She  must  hear  him 
now  or  lose  him  forever. 

"Of  course  I'll  listen,"  she  said  timidly. 

"Thank  you.  Well,  then,  my  wife  signed  the 
register  as  Madeleine.  That  is  not  your  sister's 
name." 

"No." 

"Nor  yours?" 

"No." 

"Yet  you  led  me  to  believe  that  I  had  married 
your  sister?" 

"No.    You  assumed  it." 

"What  really  happened  was  that  you  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Madeleine.  Nina,  you  are 
my  wife!" 


THE  SETTLEMENT  325 

"In  a  sense,  yes." 

Though  the  promenade  deck  was  lighted  by  a 
few  lamps,  there  was  a  certain  gloom  in  that 
corner.  Nina's  face  was  discernable,  but  not 
its  expression,  and  a  curious  hardening  in  her 
voice  brought  to  Maseden  a  whiff  of  surprise, 
almost  of  anxiety.  Happily  he  had  mapped  out 
the  line  he  meant  to  follow,  and  adhered  to  it 
inflexibly. 

"In  the  sense  that  you  are  legally  Mrs.  Philip 
Alexander  Maseden,"  he  persisted. 

"I  may  or  may  not  be.  I  am  not  sure.  I 
used  a  name  not  my  own.  It  was  the  first  that 
come  into  my  head — a  frightened  woman's  at- 
tempt to  leave  herself  some  loophole  of  escape 
in  the  future." 

4 'You  are  mistaken,  Nina.  I  know  enough 
about  the  law  to  say  definitely  that  it  is  the  cere- 
mony which  counts,  not  the  name.  You  will  see 
at  once  that  this  must  be  so.  If  you  married  an- 
other man  to-morrow,  and  signed  yourself 
'Mary  Smith,'  you  would  still  be  committing 
bigamy." 

At  that  she  laughed. 

"I  must  really  be  careful,"  she  said. 

"I  only  want  to  fix  in  your  mind  the  absolute 
finality  of  that  early  morning  wedding  in  the 
Castle  of  San  Juan.  It  makes  matters  easier." 

"To  my  thinking  it  makes  them  most  com- 
plex." 


326  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

"Not  at  all.  You  and  I  have  only  reversed 
the  usual  procedure.  Common-place  folk  meet, 
fall  in  love,  go  through  a  more  or  less  frenzied 
period  of  being  engaged,  and,  finally,  get  mar- 
ried. We  began  by  getting  married.  Circum- 
stances beyond  our  control  stopped  the  natural 
progression  of  the  affair,  but  I  suggest  that  the 
frenzied  part  of  the  business  might  well  start 
now. '  ' 

He  caught  her  left  hand  and  held  it.  She  did 
not  endeavor  to  withdraw  it,  but  he  was  star- 
tled by  her  seeming  indifference.  Still,  being 
a  determined  person,  even  in  such  a  delicate 
matter  as  love-making,  he  pursued  his  theme. 

"You  well  know  that  I  mean  to  marry  you, 
Nina,  though  I  have  regarded  myself  as  bound 
to  your  sister  until  freed  by  process  of  law,"  he 
went  on.  "But  I  ought  to  have  guessed  sooner 
that  Madge  would  never  have  allowed  Sturgess 
to  become  so  openly  her  slave  if  she  had  con- 
tracted to  love,  honor  and  obey  me.  She  might, 
indeed,  have  shared  my  view  that  the  marriage 
was  a  make-believe  affair  as  between  her  and 
me,  but  she  would  have  held  it  as  binding  until 
the  law  declared  her  free.  Then,  that  day  in 
Hell  Gate,  when  the  hazard  of  a  few  minutes 
would  decide  whether  we  lived  or  died,  you 
meant  to  tell  me  the  truth  before  the  end  came. 
Is  that  so?" 

"Yes." 


THE  SETTLEMENT  327 

"Why?" 

"You  have  no  right  to  ask."  Her  voice  was 
very  low. 

'  *  I  can  answer  my  own  question.  You  wanted 
to  die  in  my  arms,  Nina,  with  our  first  and  last 
kiss  on  our  lips.  Fool  that  I  was,  I  was  so  con- 
cerned about  the  height  of  a  tide-mark  on  a  rock 
that  I  gave  no  heed  to  the  faltering  speech  of 
the  woman  I  loved.  The  next  time  I  heard 
those  same  accents  from  you  was  when  I  came 
to  my  senses  on  board  this  ship.  For  a  few 
seconds  you  bared  your  heart  again,  Nina,  and 
again  I  was  deaf. 

"You  must  forgive  me,  sweetheart,  though 
such  grievous  lack  of  perception  was  really  the 
highest  compliment  I  could  pay  you.  The  no- 
tion that  I  was  married  to  Madge  was  firmly 
established  in  my  mind,  and  I  literally  dared 
not  tell  you  that  you  were  the  one  woman  in 
the  world  for  me  till  the  other  obstacle  was  re- 
moved. Seldom,  if  ever,  I  suppose,  has  any 
man  been  in  such  a  position.  Of  course,  there 
would  have  been  no  difficulty  at  all  if  I  had 
happened  to  guess  the  truth — " 

"That  is  just  where  you  are  mistaken,  Alec," 
and  the  words  came  with  a  sorrowful  earnest- 
ness that  Maseden  found  vastly  disconcerting. 
"What  woman  with  a  shred  of  self-respect 
would  agree  to  regard  such  a  union  as  ours 
binding?  Now,  you  have  had  your  say;  let  me 


328  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

have  mine,"  and  she  snatched  her  hand  away 
vehemently.  "I  married  you  as  part  of  an  in- 
famous compact  between  that  trader,  Stein- 
baum,  and  Mr.  Gray. 

"My  family  is  not  wealthy,  Alec.  When  my 
mother  married  a  second  time  she  did  so  largely 
on  account  of  Madge  and  myself.  She  lacked 
money  to  educate  us,  or  give  us  the  social  posi- 
tion every  good  mother  desires  for  her  daugh- 
ters. But  Mr.  Gray,  though  a  man  of  means, 
frittered  away  a  good  income  in  foolish  specu- 
lations. He  was  worth  half  a  million  dollars, 
and  believed  himself  such  a  financial  genius  that 
he  could  soon  be  a  multi-millionaire.  Instead 
of  making  money,  he  lost  it,  and  the  latest  of 
his  follies  was  to  finance  Enrico  Suarez  in  a 
scheme  to  seize  the  presidency.  The  attempt 
was  to  have,  been  made  two  years  ago,  but 
was  postponed,  or  defeated,  I  don't  know 
which — " 

"Defeated,"  put  in  Maseden.  "I  know,  be- 
cause I  helped  to  put  a  stopper  on  it." 

"Well,  the  collapse  of  that  undertaking  and 
its  golden  promise  frightened  my  stepfather. 
After  a  lot  of  correspondence  between  Stein- 
baum  and  himself  he  came  to  South  America, 
bringing  with  him  practically  the  remnants  of 
his  fortune.  My  mother  was  too  ill  to  accom- 
pany him,  and  he  refused  to  travel  alone,  so  we 
two  girls  were  given  the  trip.  Naturally,  we 


THE  SETTLEMENT  329 

were  quite  ignorant  of  the  facts,  and  believed 
he  was  merely  visiting  a  little  republic  in  which 
he  had  financial  interests. 

"By  chance  we  arrived  in  Cartagena  on  the 
very  day  Suarez  had  planned  for  the  presi- 
dent's murder — and  yours,  too,  for  that  mat- 
ter. Your  arrest  and  condemnation  gave  the 
conspirators  a  chance  of  repaying  Mr.  Gray 
the  money  he  had  advanced.  They  were  afraid 
he  would  lodge  an  official  complaint,  and  get  the 
State  Department  to  interfere.  But  they  had 
not  the  means  in  hard  cash,  and  it  occurred  to 
one  of  them — Suarez,  I  believe — that  if  one  of 
Mr.  Gray's  daughters  married  you,  and  in- 
herited your  estate,  the  property  could  be  sold 
for  a  sum  sufficient  to  clear  his  claim  and  leave 
a  balance  for  the  other  thieves. 

"That  is  the  precious  project  in  which  I,  the 
elder  of  the  two,  became  a  pawn.  Mr.  Gray 
terrified  me  into  compliance  by  telling  me  that 
we  would  be  paupers  on  our  return  home.  For 
myself  I  cared  little,  but  when  I  thought  of  my 
mother  I  yielded.  I  am  not  excusing  myself, 
Alec,  though  I  little  guessed  the  true  nature  of 
the  bargain.  I  see  now  that  Suarez  and  Stein- 
baum  wished  to  avoid  the  actual  semblance  of 
having  committed  daylight  murder  and  robbery. 
They  might  justify  your  death  as  a  rebel  against 
the  state,  but  they  could  not  explain  away  the 
seizure  of  your  property,  whereas  its  sale  by 


330  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

your  widow  would  be  a  most  reasonable  pro- 
ceeding. 

"Please  understand  that  I  believed  I  was  only 
carrying  out  a  formal  undertaking  meant  to 
enable  my  stepfather  to  recover  money  honestly 
lent.  Even  so,  my  resolution  faltered  at  the  last 
moment,  and  I  signed  the  register  in  my 
mother's  name.  And  now  I  have  bared  my 
heart  to  you,  and  you  see  how — utterly — impos- 
sible— it  is — Oh,  Alec,  don't  be  cruel!  Don't 
torture  me!  I  can  never,  never  be  your  wife, 
because  I  can  never  forgive  myself!" 

Alec,  the  wise,  as  Sturgess  had  often  styled 
him,  showed  exceeding  wisdom  now  by  letting 
her  cry  her  fill.  Never  a  word  did  he  say  until 
the  tempest  subsided.  Then  he  took  her  hand 
again  and  drew  her  to  him. 

"Tell  me  one  thing,  Nina,"  he  said  gently. 
"What  became  of  the  ring — our  ring?" 

"It  is  tied  around  my  neck — on  a  bit  of  rib- 
bon," she  sobbed. 

"Then  it  shall  remain  there  until  we  reach 
New  York,"  he  said. 

"But — I  want — to  keep  it — as  a  souvenir — 
of  all  that  has  passed,"  she  said  brokenly. 

"So  you  shall,  dear  one.  You  would  never 
feel  satisfied,  anyhow,  with  a  Spanish  marriage, 
so  we'll  try  an  American  one." 

* '  Alec,  I  cue — cue — can 't  marry  you.  I  'm  too 
ashamed." 


THE  SETTLEMENT  331 

He  laughed  happily,  and  drew  her  to  him. 

"You  can't  wriggle  out  of  the  knot  now, 
girlie, ' '  he  said.  ' '  But,  just  to  behave  like  other 
folk,  we'll  begin  again  at  the  beginning,  and  not 
at  the  end.  Nina,  do  you  think  you  can  learn 
to  love  me  quick  enough  to  permit  of  a  real  wed- 
ding when  we  arrive  in  New  York?  You  and  I 
have  gone  through  so  many  experiences  since 
we  met  that  we  can  dispense  with  some  of  the 
preliminaries  to  courtship.  Shall  we  fix  a  date 
now?  Say  three  weeks  after  we  land,  or  sooner, 
if  matters  can  be  arranged." 

She  lifted  her  tear-stained  face,  and  her  soul 
went  out  to  his  in  their  first  kiss. 

Sturgess,  when  he  heard  of  the  latest  devel- 
opment, "got  busy,"  as  he  put  it,  on  his  own 
account.  He,  of  course,  had  been  told  the  exact 
facts  by  Nina  on  that  night  passed  on  the  island 
in  Nelson  Straits.  The  upshot  of  the  general 
agreement  speedily  arrived  at  was  a  noteworthy 
double  wedding,  at  which,  as  a  topic  of  conver- 
sation, the  beauty  of  the  brides  rivaled,  if  it  did 
not  eclipse,  their  extraordinary  adventures. 

It  should  be  said,  as  a  fitting  rounding  off  of 
a  record  of  singular  events,  that  Maseden  not 
only  obtained  the  money  held  in  trust  for  him 
by  the  consul  at  Cartagena,  but  the  proceeds  of 
the  sale  of  the  ranch  as  well.  Enrico  Suarez 
was  stabbed  to  the  heart  by  a  maniac  with  a 


332  HIS  UNKNOWN  WIFE 

grievance.  Senor  Porilla,  an  honest  man,  ac- 
cording to  South  American  standards,  became 
president,  and  saw  to  it  that  Maseden's  rights 
were  safeguarded.  Even  the  wily  Steinbaum 
was  compelled  to  disgorge  to  Gray's  executors. 

The  Aztec  treasure  was  sold  for  a  mint  of 
money  to  a  millionaire  collector,  and  this  sum 
was  settled  on  Mrs.  Gray  for  life,  with  rever- 
sion to  her  daughters  in  equal  shares. 

If  any  one  is  really  curious  to  ascertain  the 
identity  and  whereabouts  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Philip 
Alexander  Maseden  or  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  K. 
Sturgess,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  visit  a  town 
on  the  coast  of  Maine  any  August,  and  keep  an 
eye  peeled  for  a  ship's  lifeboat  converted  into 
a  yawl  and  named  "The  Ark."  Therein  will  be 
found  some  very  pleasant  people,  and,  with  the 
help  of  the  foregoing  history,  the  rest  of  the 
task  should  be  simplicity  itself. 


THE    END. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


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A     000127411     7 


